Karen Gullo for Bloomberg:
Google Inc. (GOOG), the largest Web search provider, didn’t infringe Oracle Corp. (ORCL)’s patents in developing Android software, a federal jury found in the second phase of an intellectual property trial in San Francisco.
The 10-person jury ruled unanimously today that neither of the two patents at issue was infringed. Immediately after the verdict was announced, the judge dismissed the jury from the case and canceled the third phase of the trial over damages.
Oracle had alleged that Google violated two key Java patents. Oracle had sought $1 billion in damages. This may not be over – Oracle may still sue Google for copyright damages, according to the report.
Who in that jury was qualified to understand any of those patents?
Google has already been found to infringe on Oracle’s copyrights with regard to Java. The jury couldn’t decide on Google’s fair use defence and that will need a new jury trial.
And let’s be honest, this isn’t about damages. It’s about Oracle squeezing a license fee out of Google for every copy of Android.
This is the issue with having a jury of “peers” and not a jury “experts” in cases like this.
What the jury decided on was that “IF the Java APIs could be considered copyrightable”, a question of law that hasn’t been decided on by justice Alsup yet.
And even then, this violation could be under fair use.
1. of course Oracle will appeal and this could be overturned
2. there’s still the whole copyright claim.
this isn’t over