Oracle-Google Jury Mulls Patent Claims

The case of Oracle against Google is going into its second phase of deliberations with the jury now mulling over the verdict for Oracle's patent claims. The jury has already given a partial verdict on the copyright allegations last week. The third and final phase after patents will be a verdict on damages.

Oracle sued Google back in August 2010, claiming that Google recklessly copied Java code for its Android platform. Google says it built Android from scratch and was not aware of any copyright or patent infringement until the lawsuit was filed. Google also argues that Oracle should not be able to copyright or patent parts of Java, an open-source platform.

Although the jury had sided with Oracle last week, the group has not given a verdict on whether Google has fair use, which would help Google in the case. The jury said that Google has indeed copied nine lines of code from Java and the judge later ruled that Google also infringed eight Java files.

Oracle is seeking about $1 billion in copyright damages and a much lower figure in patent damages. Google has offered to pay $2.8 million in damages on two patents for the period through 2011. Google also offered to pay 0.5 percent of Android revenue on one patent and 0.015 percent on another unti their expiration dates. However, Oracle has rejected this settlement offer.