Phase 2 of Google vs. Oracle now in the hands of the jury

Last week, the California jury hearing the Oracle v. Google Java patent case could not come to a decision on the question of "Fair Use" of the patent and issued a split verdict. The suit is being heard in three phases and the next phase ended Tuesday when closing arguments were concluded. Now, this phase of the suit is in the hands of the jury which has started its deliberations. The second part of the suit dealt with patents. More specifically, it revolved around two remaining patents that Oracle accuses Google of infringing on with the Android OS.

The suit was filed by Oracle back in 2010 and alleges that Android infringes on some patents related to Java, the programming language acquired by Oracle when it purchased Sun Microsystem. Google responds that not only did it not infringe upon any Oracle patents, but that because Java is an open source system, parts of it cannot be patented.

Judge William Alsup told Oracle on Tuesday that he didn't believe that Oracle could prove that the infringement of code helped Google enough to warrant an order for Google to return some of its profits made using Android. The Judge claimed to be knowledgeable in computer programming and coding and said that the nine lines in rangeCheck copied in Android, would take 5 minutes to put together. Alsup characterized Oracle's desire for Google to disgorge profits as a  "fishing expedition." Oracle had until 9pm California time on Tuesday night to turn over to the court a detailed report on how the infringed code was a big part in Android's success. There is no word on whether or not the company met the deadline.

The next phase of the suit deals with damages and Google's Eric Schmidt and Larry Page are both on Oracle's witness list for the third and final phase of the trial which could start as soon as this week. Google attorney Daniel Purcell said it may be impossible and unnecessary to call the former and current CEO of the Mountain View based tech firm. But Judge Alsup warned Purcell that if the executives are subpoenaed, they need to show up.

The damages phase is going to be interesting as both sides are far apart. At one time, Oracle said it wanted $2 billion from Google for infringing on the patent. Google offered on March 29th to settle the case involving the two remaining patents for $2.8 million. In addition Google proposed a licensing fee of .5 percent of revenue until the patent expires in December, and .015 percent on a second patent until it expires in 2018. Oracle rejected the offers as it has been more concerned with defending its patents instead of receiving some cash.

source: electronista