Tag archive: oracle

Database giant Oracle has rejected a court-ordered award of $272 million in damages from rival database vendor SAP, saying it would rather face another trial. The choice stretches out a dispute between the two companies that stretches all the way back to 2007—and could potentially be worth over a billion dollars to Oracle, if it's proven right. Back in 2010, a jury awarded Oracle a stunning $1.3 billion in damages in its suit against SAP.… Read More

Back in August 2010, Mark Hurd stepped down as CEO of Hewlett-Packard amid allegations of inappropriate conduct and sexual harassment involving Jodie Fisher, an actress who took a job with HP as a hostess for corporate events. In departing HP, Hurd acknowledged he “did not live up to the standards and principles of trust, respect and integrity that I have espoused at HP,” but the details of the allegations against him were never… Read More

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office dealt Oracle a bit of a setback in its high-stakes patent litigation against Google over Android. In a filing just before the Christmas holiday, the USPTO effectively threw out one of the seven patents Oracle is using against Google (full text available at Groklaw), rejecting some 17 of the 21 claims asserted in U.S. patent 6,192,476. Although only one of those claims was being leveraged against… Read More

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued findings on two of Oracle's Java-related patents at issue in the database giant's case against Google over the Java virtual machine included in Android. Perhaps most significantly, the USPTO rejected Oracle's patent claims on U.S. patent number 7,426,720, which has generally been considered one of the most important patents in the case, in part because it's one of the… Read More

It seems as though we have a new HP and webOS rumor every month,  this month’s rumor has a slightly different spin than past rumors. Rueters is reporting that HP is seriously looking into selling the mobile operating system, but for quite a bit less than it originally paid for it. Usually we hear about a rumor of a company that might want to buy webOS from HP instead of HP trying to unload webOS. This is actually the first time that we have… Read More

The major patent and copyright infringement case between Google and Oracle over technology included in Android looks like it may be going to trial, just not anytime soon. Judge William Alsup issued his preliminary trial plan to both sides Wednesday, noting that the trial is not going to get started in 2011—and everyone involved had better get prepared for a long-drawn out proceeding rather than a quick summary trial. Judge Alsup outlined plans… Read More

Google reported record third quarter earnings yesterday, but CEO Larry Page wasn't all happy. When asked about Microsoft, he did not hold back, saying that the company is bullying manufacturing partners into paying it and has introduced a sort of “Android tax” on hardware makers.  “Rather than seeing Microsoft compete in the marketplace with their own phones, they continue resorting to legal measures to hassle their own… Read More

HP just can’t keep itself out of the headlines. Today rumors are coming out of Bloomberg that HP’s board might be removing Leo Apotheker as CEO. Apotheker was named HP’s CEO in November, and in that time the company hasn’t produced much good news. It seems as though the board might be thinking of naming eBay’s former CEO Meg Whitman as the new CEO or as interim CEO while they search for someone new. Besides trying to spin off its personal… Read More

Last year, Oracle won a mammoth court victory against SAP, one of its main competitors in database and enterprise services: a jury awarded Oracle $1.3 billion for SAP stealing software and customer support materials from an Oracle password-protected Web site. At the time, it was one of the largest awards ever granted for software piracy—but no more: Judge Phyllis Hamilton in the U.S. District Court in Oakland has scaled back the award to… Read More

Hewlett-Packard's 20-percent nose-dive in stock price last week has stirred up rumors that Oracle may be considering moving in. The rumors seem to stem from a New York Post article published over the weekend. The Post says HP's 10 billion dollar decision to buy UK software company Autonomy “puts the world’s largest tech company in a vulnerable position and may make it an Oracle takeover target”. An unnamed source told the Post… Read More

On Wednesday, Google came out strong against Microsoft, Apple, Oracle and other companies, arguing that they are waging “a hostile, organized campaign against Android” by purchasing a large number of “bogus patents,” which can then use in lawsuits against Google. Google Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer David Drummond explains their side of the story on the company blog: “They’re doing this by banding… Read More

A federal judge has ruled that Oracle may depose current Google CEO Larry Page in Oracle's lawsuit over Java technology in Android—but only for two hours, and only in matters relevant to the allegation of copyright infringement and Android's overall value to Google. The move is another way for Oracle to increase pressure on Google in what's turning into a high-stakes case: Oracle has said it believes it's owed at… Read More

Oracle's patent infringement claims against Google over the Dalvik virtual machine built into the Android operating system continues to escalate, with Oracle submitting a request to the judge in the case to depose current Google CEO Larry Page. Oracle argues questioning page is germane because Page participated in negotiations between Google and Sun (now owned by Oracle) over a license to use Java technology in Android. Further, Oracle… Read More

In a filing yesterday with the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of California, database giant Oracle revealed is seeking some $2.6 billion in damages from Google for alleged Java patent infringements in Google's Android mobile operating system. The damages figure is based on estimates from Boston University finance professor Iain Cockburn, who is serving as Oracles damages expert. Oracle also claimed Google has… Read More

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… Read More