Oracle Corp (ORCL) Financial News - Oracle’s $6.1 Billion Damage Estimate Excluded in Java Case Against Google
Oracle Corp (ORCL)
Oracle’s $6.1 Billion Damage Estimate Excluded in Java Case Against Google
2011-07-25 09:10:42
Quote: Oracle Corp.Google Inc.
over the use of Java technology in the Android operating system
was thrown out by a federal judge.
William Alsup in San Francisco ruled
yesterday that a new damage estimate should start as low as
$100 million, a figure Google was offered, and rejected, in 2006
to license Java from Sun Microsystems Inc., before Sun was
acquired by Oracle, according to a court filing. The
$6.1 billion estimate assumed that all of the seven patents
Oracle is suing over were used in Android and the company didn’t
present sufficient facts to support that, Alsup said.
“The court is strongly of the view that the hypothetical
negotiation should take that $100 million offer as the starting
point,†Alsup said in his written ruling.
Oracle, the largest maker of database software, sued the
Internet search-engine company last year, claiming Google didn’t
obtain a license for the patents infringed by Android. Besides
seeking damages, Oracle wants the court to order destruction of
all products that violate its copyrights.
Deborah HellingerAaron Zamost, a Google spokesman,
declined to comment on the ruling.
‘A Substantial Possibility’
Alsup said that if a jury determines that Oracle’s patents
were infringed, there is “a substantial possibility†Google
will be ordered to permanently stop selling any infringing
products. A new damage estimate should address assumptions that
an injunction may be granted and can be based on a portion of
Google’s advertising revenue garnered from Android devices, he
said.
The $100 million “starting point†can be adjusted upward
to assume that all parts of the patents that Oracle cited in its
complaint are valid and infringed, Alsup ruled.
Oracle’s new damage report is due 35 days before an Oct. 17
pretrial conference, Alsup said.
Google, based in Mountain View, California, denies
infringing and asked Alsup at a July 21 hearing to throw out
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