Google gets early win in Oracle patent battle

By Geoff Duncan June 24, 2011

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Oracle’s patent infringement suit against Google over the Java implementation in Android may be facing a significant setback: of the 21 patents Oracle claims Google is violating, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has rejected 17 claims on re-examination. As a result, the judge in the case has asked both Oracle and Google to reduce the number of claims they are making against each other in order to avoid wasting the court’s time on patents that will likely be ruled invalid or uninfringed.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark office ruling was first reported by Groklaw.

Oracle has not yet indicated how it intends to proceed in the case, but options include appealing the patent re-examination, reducing the number of claims it is making against Google. Earlier this month, Oracle began to describe the damages it aims to collect from Google in the case: one court filing estimates the damages at over $6 billion. Google has disputed the manner in which Oracle arrived at its figures.

Oracle filed suit against Google last year over alleged patent violation in the Java virtual machine used in Android. Google maintains it has done nothing wrong.

Overall, Oracle has made 168 infringement claims against Google to on seven patents. The USPTO’s process is ongoing.

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