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Google gives Oracle Chinese burn

by on05 July 2016


Revenge served lightly chilled

After being bullied by Oracle lawyers over its use of Java in Android for so long, Google is wasting no time sticking the boot in.


For those who came in late, after much arguing, court sittings and appeals, Google convinced a jury that Oracle’s claim for billions of dollars for using Java API in Android were fair use. Oracle is going to appeal, of course but for once Ellison’s lawyers are on a back foot.

It seems that Google is trying a few nasty legal tricks of its own to get a bit of revenge on Oracle and its law firm, Orrick, Sutcliffe & Herrington. The problem was one of security.
Oracle attorney Annette Hurst told the open court that that Google's Android operating system had generated revenue of $31 billion and $22 billion in profit. She also disclosed that Google pays Apple $1 billion to keep Google's search bar on iPhones. The only problem was that information was confidential.

Google lawyers asked for the figure to be struck from the record. The figures were hypthethical and the numbers were not publicly known.

However, the magistrate judge at the hearing declined Google's request to keep the transcript of the hearing secret and it was published. Google quickly asked US District Judge William Alsup, who has overseen the litigation for six years now, to seal and redact the transcript and it disappeared from electronic court records.

But Google was not done yet and wanted Hurst taken to the cleaners for her “self-serving representations of sensitive confidential financial information of both Google and Apple and extremely confidential internal Google financial information."

US District Judge William Alsup, who has overseen the companies' dispute for six years now, said he would postpone considering the matter until after the trial.

With the trial over, Baber reminded the court of Google's request. He noted that the disclosures also harmed Apple. Alsup granted permission for Google to file a 15-page motion seeking sanctions.
Google has also filed a request that Oracle reimburse it for $3.9 million in costs. That consists of $1.8 million for managing documents in the case, close to $300,000 for transcript fees, and more than $1.8 million in payments to a court-appointed expert.

To be fair the costs are only a tiny fraction of what the case cost Google. The request doesn't include any of Google's legal fees, which aren't recoupable. But it does appear that Google wants to slap Ellison’s legal team over the nose with a rolled up newspaper for the mess it left in the corner.

Last modified on 13 July 2016
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