By Dan Levine
SAN FRANCISCO, April 16 (Reuters) – An Oracle attorney cited
emails between top executives at Google as prime evidence that
Google took its intellectual property to gain an edge in the
lucrative smartphone market, at the start of a high stakes trial
between the two tech giants.
Opening statements between Oracle Corp and Google
Inc began on Monday in a San Francisco federal court.
Oracle sued Google in August 2010 over patent and copyright
claims for the Java programming language.
According to Oracle, Google’s Android operating system
tramples on its intellectual property rights to Java, which it
acquired when it bought Sun Microsystems in 2010. Google says it
does not violate Oracle’s patents and that Oracle cannot
copyright certain parts of Java.
The trial before U.S. District Judge William Alsup is
expected to last at least eight weeks.
Oracle attorney Michael Jacobs said Google took copyrighted
Java “blueprints” to harness the creative power of millions of
Java software developers, so they then could write applications
for Android. However, Google never obtained the proper license,
he said.
“You can’t just step on someone’s IP because you have a good
business reason for it,” Jacobs said.
Google’s opening statement is scheduled to take place on
Tuesday morning. Spokesman Jim Prosser said Google is confident
in its defenses, and that Oracle’s legal claims threaten the
broad goal of making software systems work together smoothly.
Jacobs displayed several Google emails to the jury, which
were relayed to the courtroom gallery on a high definition
screen. In 2005, Android chief Andy Rubin sent one to Google
co-founder Larry Page proposing to take a license to Java.
“We’ll pay Sun for the license,” Rubin wrote.
But according to Jacobs, a May 2007 email from Rubin to
then-CEO Eric Schmidt shows that Google consciously decided
against taking a license. Some spectators in the packed
courtroom strained to read the email, displayed alongside photos
of Rubin and Schmidt.
“I’m done with Sun (tail between my legs, you were right),”
Rubin wrote to Schmidt. “They won’t be happy when we release our
stuff.”
Google’s Prosser said Java inventors cheered Android when it
was released. But Jacobs told the jury that Sun executives were
not happy behind closed doors, regardless of what they said
publicly.
Before jury selection began, Alsup warned both companies
that they should not expect to keep sensitive financial
information secret.
“This is a public trial,” he said.
Jacobs did not divulge any financial details about Android
during his presentation on Monday.
Early on in the case, estimates of potential damages against
Google ran as high as $6.1 billion. But Google has narrowed
Oracle’s claims to only two patents from seven originally,
reducing the possible award. Oracle is seeking roughly $1
billion in copyright damages.
A retired teacher, a U.S. postal worker and a store designer
for Gap Inc were among the jurors selected on Monday to decide
the case. The seven-woman, five-man jury also included a retired
photographer, an avid hiker and a nurse.
Jacobs told Alsup that Oracle’s CEO, Larry Ellison, would
likely be Oracle’s first live trial witness. Ellison could take
the stand as early as Tuesday. Oracle also said in a court
filing on Sunday that it expected Google CEO Larry Page to be
among its first witnesses.
Ellison will testify about the importance of Java to
Oracle’s business and the harm Android has caused the company,
according to the witness list.
The testimony from Page, a relatively reclusive figure,
could include details about Google’s business plan and marketing
strategy for Android, including the company’s recent acquisition
of Motorola, the witness list shows.
The trial will have three phases: copyright liability,
patent claims, and damages. Page could also testify about
revenue and profit projections for Android, including
advertising revenue, the witness list said.
The case in U.S. District Court, Northern District of
California, is Oracle America, Inc v. Google Inc, 10-3561.
