The use of Java in Android OS smartphones could cost Google billions if Oracle win an upcoming court case.
Oracle is looking to clean up with a patent suit against Google seeking up to US$6.1 billion involving claims over the lucrative smartphone market.
Oracle has claimed that Google’s Android mobile operating technology infringes Oracle’s Java patents. Java was developed by Sun Microsystems, which Oracle acquired last year.
Google has disputed the Oracle damages amount in a court filing, calling it “a breathtaking figure that is out of proportion to any meaningful measure of the intellectual property at issue.”
The case is also part of a wider web of litigation among phonemakers and software companies over who owns the patents used in smartphones and tablets, as rivals aggressively rush into a market which Apple jump-started with the iPhone and iPad.
Barring any settlement, a trial between Oracle and Google is expected to begin by November.
Google has called the Oracle damages report “unreliable and results-oriented,” and asked a US judge in San Francisco to ignore it. In disputing Oracle’s methodology, it also asked the court to keep private some damages information Google disclosed in a court filing.
Oracle fired back, accusing Google of trying to conceal the fact that Oracle’s damages claims in the case are in the billions, according to a document filed late last week. The company said it did not object to having the information about its damages become public.
