Oracle's third patent blocked from trial

In the trial between Oracle and Google over Java, Android, patents and copyright, Oracle had hoped that it could assert a third patent, 5,966,702 which it had previously been unable to use in court because the USPTO had rejected it after re-examination, then restored its validity. The trial is currently covering copyright issues and is yet to reach the patents phase; Oracle hoped that it would be able to introduce the patent to the case because of that.

But District Judge William Alsup has held Oracle to their original assurance that, for patents rejected before the start of the case, Oracle would drop its infringement claims. In his order, the judge says Oracle's contention that the patent trial had not started is wrong and that it "will be required to stand by its word and live with the dismissal with prejudice". Oracle will, as previously expected, enter the patent phase of the trial with only two patents.

In the ongoing copyright phase of the trial, Andy Rubin, head of Google's Android development, continued his testimony. Questioned by Google's lawyers, Rubin detailed the initial creation of Android between 2005 and 2007, its use of Java, and Android's use of Apache Harmony libraries. Rubin stated that, at that time, "we did not believe that we needed a licence from Sun" and that the company's relationship with Sun was harmonious with meetings every six months.

The court was also presented with images of the original Android concept, a non-touch phone reminiscent of the BlackBerry devices of the time. The exhibit from 2006 also included slides which stated:

Fact: Linux fragmentation threatens market acceptance. Tools and new app frameworks are biggest hurdles. 6M Java developers worldwide. Tools and documentation exist to support app development without the need to create a large developer services organization. There exist many legacy Java applications. The wireless industry has adopted Java, and the carriers require its support.

Strategy: Leverage Java for its existing base of developers. Build a useful app framework (not J2ME). Support J2ME apps in compatibility mode. Provide an opTMobileized JVM (Dalvik).

Other testimony came from Daniel Bornstein who was responsible for the Dalvik virtual machine and core library foundations; he testified that the developers had relied on publicly available documentation and the Apache Harmony project's code in creating the VM. Bornstein said he had no first-hand knowledge of where the information for creating the Apache Harmony code had come from. The trial continues.

(djwm)