Oracle must pay Google $1.13 million in court costs according to the outcome of the company’s not-so-successful legal showdown with the Internet search giant.
Oracle had initially sought to prove that Android – Google’s popular mobile operating system – was somehow infringing on Oracle patents.
Although both parties dumped far more money into their war than they will ever recover from one another, the $1.13 million fee is being slapped on Oracle as a means for Google to recover some of its court costs.
“Oracle initially sought six billion dollars in damages and injunctive relief but recovered nothing after nearly two years of litigation and six weeks of trial,” said Judge William Alsup of US District Court in Northern California. “Oracle initially alleged infringement of seven patents and 132 claims but each claim ultimately was either dismissed with prejudice or found to be non-infringed by the jury. Oracle also lost on its primary copyright claim for Java APIs.”
From Ars Technica:
As Oracle’s patent allegations disintegrated, Oracle fell back on an “overreaching” and “somewhat novel” theory of copyright infringement to bolster its case, Alsup noted. As for reimbursements, Alsup looked favorably upon Google’s request for fees to cover the work of expert witness James Kearl, pointing to legal precedent allowing reimbursement for fees paid to court-appointed experts.
Alsup, however, did not go along with Google’s request to be reimbursed for e-discovery costs paid to vendor FTI Consulting.
