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Ryan Paul - Jul 22, 2011 9:59 pm UTC

The ongoing patent dispute between Oracle and Google over the use of Java in Android saw some noteworthy developments this week. Friction continues to mount over estimated damages and demands for CEO depositions. Some details have also emerged about a proposed licensing deal between Google and Sun that fell through in 2006.

Google has asked the Judge to throw out Oracle's damages estimates, which reportedly set the cost of Google's alleged infringement as high as $6 billion. Google countered that damages should be pinned at $0 and that ad revenue generated from Android shouldn't be considered when computing potential damages.

Quoted in a Reuters report, US District Judge William Alsup took both parties to task for being unreasonable about the estimated damages. He called Google's estimate of $0 "ridiculous" and "totally wrong." Judge Alsup also had some sharp words for Oracle. According to BusinessWeek he said that it was "crazy" to base the damage estimates on the full monetary value of Android itself.

Judge Alsup also questioned Google about the terms of an agreement that the search giant was negotiating with Sun in 2006 regarding Android and licensing. Internal Google messages sent to Andy Rubin during the early stages of Android development indicated that a license was needed in order to proceed with using Java. Other programming languages were considered, but rejected. Google then began negotiating a broad agreement with Sun, which eventually fell through.

Google contends that the terms of the proposed $100 million deal with Sun had nothing to do with patents. According to the search giant, the plan would have involved a complex partnership through which the two companies would fully co-develop the Android platform. The arrangement never materialized, and Google ended up building its own implementation of the Java programming language distinct from Sun's J2ME.

Another major point of contention in the dispute has been over CEO depositions. According to a Bloomberg report, Judge Donna M. Ryu has granted Oracle permission to grill Google CEO Larry Page for two hours over questions relating to the value of the Android operating system and the infringement allegations. Google is similarly pursuing the right to question Oracle CEO Larry Ellison.

Google continues to argue that there is no patent infringement, willful or otherwise. Oracle, seeking to wring as much value as possible out of the Java assets that it obtained in its acquisition of Sun, is pursuing the matter vigorously.

Listing image by Photograph by Andy Armstrong

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