“Google Inc. and Oracle Corp. chief executive officers are squaring off in court today to resolve a dispute that may pose the biggest threat to Google’s Android mobile software, now running on more than 150 million devices,” Brian Womack, Aaron Ricadela and Karen Gullo report for Bloomberg.
“Google’s Larry Page and Oracle’s Larry Ellison were ordered to appear before a federal court magistrate in San Jose, California, after tussling over patents for more than a year,” Womack, Ricadela and Gullo report. “Oracle accused Google of infringing patents related to its Java software, and a settlement means the companies avoid the risk of having a jury decide whether Google owes royalties.”
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Womack, Ricadela and Gullo report, “Oracle’s suit, filed in August 2010, may represent a bigger menace to Google’s software than challenges from Apple Inc., which has already won patent decisions against Android device makers. In settlement talks, Page aims to avoid having to pay Oracle licensing fees that analysts at Citigroup Inc. said could be as high as $15 per device. That sum might slow the adoption of the software, which Google gives away… If Oracle does score a victory against Google, it won’t want to extract too high a fee, said Ray Valdes, an analyst with Gartner. Android needs to be successful for Oracle to get any royalties from the devices, he said.”
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