Appeals court denies Google bid to keep email out of Oracle trial
- 07 February, 2012 07:10
- Comments
Google has failed in its latest attempt to keep a potentially damaging email out of the lawsuit Oracle filed against it over alleged Java intellectual-property violations in the Android mobile OS.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Monday denied Google's petition over the email, which was written by Google engineer Tim Lindholm, according to information on the court's website. The text of the court's decision was not immediately available.
"What we've actually been asked to do by Larry and Sergey is to investigate what technical alternatives exist to Java for Android and Chrome," Lindholm wrote in the August 2010 email, shortly before Oracle filed suit, apparently referring to Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. "We've been over a bunch of these, and think they all suck. We conclude that we need to negotiate a license for Java under the terms we need."
Google went to the appeals court after a number of unsuccessful attempts to convince the main judge in the case that the email should be excluded, arguing in part that it was protected under attorney-client privilege.
In addition, the email does not constitute proof that Google was guilty of willfully infringing on Java, and instead "concerns an investigation made in anticipation of Oracle's lawsuit, shortly after Google learned of the patents that Oracle is asserting," Google said in a previous filing.
Still, the email's contents have been seen as a potentially potent weapon for Oracle's attorneys when the case goes to trial.
Oracle sued Google in August 2010, claiming that Android violated a number of patents and copyrights it holds on Java. Google has denied wrongdoing, saying that Android uses a "clean-room" Java implementation that doesn't infringe on Oracle's intellectual property.
Chris Kanaracus covers enterprise software and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Chris's e-mail address is Chris_Kanaracus@idg.com
Join the CIO Australia group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.
- Bookmark this page
- Share this article
- Got more on this story? Email CIO
- Follow CIO on twitter
-
Australia's first 4G smartphone is the HTC Velocity 4G
-
Swedish e-commerce startup's execs linked to NYC sex crime
-
Face Time - Interview with John Brennan and Robert DiStefano
-
How to implement next-generation storage infrastructure for Big Data
-
Pfizer's Future Depends on IT Transformation
-
Botnets: The dark side of cloud computing
Botnets pose a serious threat to your network, your business, your partners and customers. Botnets rival the power of today’s most powerful cloud computing platforms. These “dark” clouds, controlled by cybercriminals, are designed to silently infect your network. Left undetected, botnets borrow your network to serve malicious business interests. This paper details how you can protect against the risk of botnet infection using security gateways that offer comprehensive unified threat management (UTM). -
Seven Tips for Securing Mobile Workers
Seven Tips for Securing Mobile Workers is intended to offer practical guidance on dealing with one of the fastest growing threats to the security of sensitive and confidential information. -
Case Study: Keeping information on the move: Clearswift protects Maman, the logistics experts
Time is money. Every minute a consignment is held up in transit costs money and causes problems. Web and email are mission critical business tools that enable Maman, and their customers, to efficiently collaborate with partners across the globe. Spam, and other web based threats can result in delays that ultimately lead to missed deadlines - keeping the lines of communication open is therefore a key priority for Maman. Read on.
-
Digital Photography Bible, 2nd Edition
-
PHP 5 for Dummies
-
Streaming Media Bible
-
Digital Photography Essentials
-
Fedora 7 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux Bible
-
IMac Portable Genius, 2nd Edition
-
EBay for Dummies Australian Edition
-
Pocket Pcs! I Didn't Know You Could Do That... (Includes CD-ROM)
-
Interoperability for Enterprise Software and Applications (Proceedings of the Workshops and the Doctorial Symposium of the Second Ifac/Ifip I-esa Int








Comments
Post new comment