The jury in the high-profile Oracle vs. Google lawsuit decided that Google did not infringe on two of Oracle's patents, and its use of 37 Java APIs in Android should be allowed under fair use.
The jury in the trial at the U.S. District Court of Northern California has reached the conclusion that Google did not infringe on six claims in U.S. Patent No. R38,104 nor on two claims in U.S. Patent No. 6,061,520.
Damages Phase of the Trial Canceled
The verdict marks a victory for Google, and ends the second phase of the trial, which focused on the patent infringement claims. After this decision, the third phase of the trial, which was supposed to focus on damages, was canceled. Judge William Alsup of the U.S. District Court of Northern California dismissed the jury after the verdict, and said this was the longest civil trial he had been involved in. Meanwhile, the copyright issue within the case remains unresolved. In the first phase of the trial - the copyright phase - the jury gave a partial verdict mostly in favor of Oracle.
"Today's jury verdict that Android does not infringe Oracle's patents was a victory not just for Google but the entire Android ecosystem," reads a Google statement. Meanwhile, Oracle is not very pleased with the turnout. "Oracle presented overwhelming evidence at trial that Google knew it would fragment and damage Java," Deborah Hellinger, a spokeswoman for Oracle, told Bloomberg. "We plan to continue to defend and uphold Java's core write once run anywhere principle and ensure it is protected for the nine million Java developers and the community that depend on Java compatibility," Hellinger added in the emailed statement to Bloomberg.
Technical Question
Just like earlier in the week, proceedings began with the jury asking a technical question regarding an Oracle patent. More specifically, the jury inquired about the legal interpretation of the words "simulating execution of the code," found within U.S. Patent No. 6,061,520, an Oracle patent that covers "method and system for performing static initialization." When Judge Alsup asked Oracle's counsel to answer the jury's question, Oracle's team asked for a five-minute talk with Google's legal team to come up with an answer. After the huddle, the two sides and the Judge concurred that the jury might have been referring to one of two claims within the patent. Alsup told the jury to be more specific and explained that the question could reference either claim 1 and claim 20 of the patent.
Judge Alsup noted that he was not "100 percent sure" he had properly answered their original question, but concurred that the jury was "right on target" to ask what the phrase meant, as it was a legal question. The jury returned with a verdict roughly half an hour after being sent back to deliberations.
Oracle filed the lawsuit against Google in 2010, alleging that the search giant's Android platform infringed on a Java patent Oracle acquired with the purchase of sun Microsystems. Google admitted no wrongdoing and said the Android team was not aware of Sun's patents before the lawsuit, adding that its Android OS was free to use. The proceedings will resume on Tuesday, May 29, after a break for Memorial Day.
