Google disputes $6bn damages figure in Oracle/Java patent infringement case

Google has asked a US court to scrap the testimony of an expert witness hired by Oracle in its ongoing patent infringement dispute over the use of Java code in Android.

Oracle is seeking $2.6bn in damages from Google, which it has accused of infringing Java patents.

However, it is possible that Oracle could claim more, after Boston University professor Iain Cockburn calculated that damages should be closer to $6bn, which is the figure that Google disputes.

But Google claimed in an 18-page filing that the methodology used by Cockburn is grounded only in the desire to maximise Oracle's damages.

"Cockburn's methodology error allows him to put damages as high as $6.1bn, nearly as much as the $7.4bn Oracle paid for all of Sun [Microsystems]," the filing said.

"Cockburn improperly includes Google's Android advertising revenue in his royalty base even though Oracle does not (and cannot) allege that Google's ads infringe."

Google also claims that one of the patents it is accused of infringing (US Patent No. 6,910,205) is not being used in Java, and that there cannot therefore be any infringement.

However, software patent expert Florian Mueller noted that Oracle is likely to be able to enforce the patent even if it is not being used.

"[We're] talking about a federal court case and the specific context of damages. In that respect, whether or not an invention is practiced is only of indirect relevance," he said in the Foss Patents blog.

"Google wants to underscore that it's not infringing 'Java'. But Google's averment that there's at least one patent that Oracle is asserting against Google without even practicing it itself is an interesting anecdote for all observers of this process."

The legal spat kicked off in August 2010 and is just one of numerous high-profile patent disputes in the smartphone and tablet spaces.

Apple recently agreed to pay Nokia around €420m plus future royalties for the use of patented technology in its iPhone and iPad products.

Apple is also involved in a bitter patent infringement dispute with Samsung, which it accuses of shamelessly "copying" its iPhone and iPad devices.