Court tosses some Oracle damage claims versus Google
updated 05:45 pm EST, Tue December 6, 2011
Oracle may not get as much as hoped from Android
Judge William Alsup on Tuesday threw out some of Oracle's damage claims against Google for allegedly violating Java copyrights and patents with Android. He gave an initial favor to five of Google's eight objections for a tentative order that would go ahead unchanged on December 20 if there were no objections. Among the objections were potentially broad strokes in lumping all patents together for damages.
Alsup instead wanted Oracle to narrow its claims to individual patents and even individual claims within those patents. The database giant would only see broad applications if Google was found innocent of violating a particular claim, in which case the entire patent was worth that one non-infringed patent.
The judge also noted that Microsoft's 2004 settlement with Sun couldn't be used as a precedent.
Google could still face a significant penalty or even a product ban. The company has admitted there might be patent trouble and has been spending most of its pre-trial defense trying to minimize damage. Oracle believes not just that Google knowingly used Java in Android without permission but that its modification of Java for Android's custom just-in-time engine was breaking Java.
A trial doesn't start until 2012, but Oracle and Google may pursue a settlement if pre-trial rulings lead them to think they can't get a better deal. [via Florian Mueller]
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Joined: Dec 2011
exactly
if either party thinks they'll get a better deal from going to court - they'll go to court, instead of settling.
That's why the likelyhood of settling is relatively low, these aren't companies that want to settle just to get it over with quickly. They'll fight to the last dime.
Google pays some - no doubt, but the fact that Sun welcomed Google's Android with open arms and public statements - means that Google's claim that there is a little bit of chicanery going on - is not without merit.