Oracle on Thursday asked a judge to let its attorneys grill Google’s CEO Larry Page in the Android vs. Java battle. Judge Donna Ryu of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California will consider the request to allow a deposition of Google’s co-founder about the role he played in the company’s 2005 Android acquisition.
“Mr. Page is Google’s CEO, and he reportedly made the decision to acquire Android, Inc., and thereby develop and launch the platform that Oracle now contends infringes its patents and copyrights,” Oracle wrote in its letter to the judge.
“Mr. Page also participated in negotiations that took place between Sun and Google regarding a Java license for Android and in subsequent communications with Oracle’s CEO, Larry Ellison. Oracle believes that Mr. Page’s testimony will likely be relevant with respect to a number of other key issues in this case, as well, including the value of the infringement to Google.”
Google Denies Wrongdoing
Oracle filed a complaint against Google for patent and copyright infringement in August. At that time, Oracle spokesperson Karen Tillman said, “In developing Android, Google knowingly, directly and repeatedly infringed Oracle’s Java-related intellectual property. This lawsuit seeks appropriate remedies for their infringement.”
Oracle argued that Android uses Java technologies to compete with Java, which is itself a competitive mobile operating system. Google did not immediately respond to Oracle’s allegations. But in October, Google emerged with a response that Google’s platform, including its Dalvik virtual machine, does not violate Oracle’s intellectual property.
“Although software applications for the Android platform may be written in the Java programming language, the Dalvik bytecode is distinct and different from Java bytecode. The Dalvik VM is not a Java VM,” Google wrote.
“The core class libraries of the Dalvik VM incorporate a subset of Apache Harmony, a clean room, open source implementation… More info
Popularity: 3% [?]
