In just a few short months, there could be a conclusion to Oracle Corp.’s lawsuit against Google Inc., which accuses the search giant of infringing Java patents in its Android mobile operating system.
The suit was filed in August 2010 in the U.S. District Court in San Francisco, and accused Google of “knowingly, directly and repeatedly infringed Oracle’s Java-related intellectual property,” said Karen Tillman, spokeswoman for the Santa Clara Calif.-based Oracle.
Since then, the ramp up to trial has been filled with drama as Menlo Park Calif.-based Google Inc. called the suit “baseless” and the founder of Java, James Gosling, voiced his concerns about Oracle’s intentions.
Even Android developers piped up in late August over their growing fears that the suit might impact their ability to continue designing for the OS.
A year later, in August of 2011, Google even called out Oracle for dragging their feet to produce key documentation of the theft.
Now, after over a year of waiting, the date for the trial is set for “on or after March 19” and it will be split into three parts. Judge William Alsup’s pretrial order to the California courts explained that the first phase will cover all copyright claims, the second patent liability and the third phase – if necessary – will wrap up any remaining issues. The same jury will hear evidence from all three phases.
Meanwhile, in the lead up to the trial, Oracle and Google have begun filing a series of motions to ask for certain evidence to be excluded.
Both corporations have up to seven days to file objections to Alsup’s final pretrial order.
–With files from Chris Kanaracus