SAN FRANCISCO, July 22 (Reuters) - A federal judge rejected
Oracle Corp's claim for billions of dollars in damages from
Google Inc for infringing on Java patents, a day after warning
both sides they had taken unreasonable positions in a patent
battle over the Android mobile system.
But the judge on Friday gave Oracle a chance to come up
with new figures, after saying in a testy hearing the day
before that both technology giants were "asking for the moon."
Oracle sued Google last year, claiming the Internet search
company's Android software infringed on Java patents that it
inherited through an acquisition of Sun Microsystems in 2010.
The case is part of a wider web of litigation among phone
makers and software firms over who owns the patents used in
smartphones and tablets: the fastest-growing but most heavily
competitive segment of technology hardware, one that Apple
jump-started with the iPhone and iPad.
Google cast Oracle's damages calculations as between $1.4
and $6.1 billion and had asked U.S. District Judge William
Alsup to disallow them. Oracle had called for Google to pay
$2.6 billion.
Alsup rejected Oracle's damages report in a written ruling
on Friday, saying that Oracle had "overreached in multiple
ways."
He also left the door open for a potential change in the
schedule.
"If Oracle needs to postpone the October trial until it
settles on which claims it truly believes are triable, then it
should bring a prompt motion to do so," the judge added.
At the hearing on Thursday in a San Francisco federal
courtroom, Alsup sharply questioned Oracle attorney Steven
Holtzman about Oracle's damages estimate, noting that the
expert who crafted it was paid $700 an hour by Oracle and came
up with a figure topping $6 billion.
Google, which has maintained that Oracle deserves no
damages, declined to comment on Friday's ruling. Oracle
spokeswoman Deborah Hellinger declined to comment.
The case in U.S. District Court, Northern District of
California, is Oracle America, Inc v. Google Inc, 10-3561.
For Oracle: Michael Jacobs, Marc Peters and Daniel Muino of
Morrison & Foerster; David Boies and Steven Holtzman of Boies,
Schiller & Flexner.
For Google: Robert Van Nest, Christa Anderson, Daniel
Purcell, Scott Weingaertner, Robert Perry and Bruce Baber of
Keker & Van Nest; Donald Zimmer and Cheryl Sabnis of King &
Spaulding; Ian Ballon and Heather Meeker of Greenberg Traurig.
(Reporting by Dan Levine)