Google Inc. Did Not Infringe Oracle Corporation's Patents-Jury-Reuters

Reuters reported that Google Inc.'s Android mobile platform has not infringed Oracle Corporation's patents, a California jury decided, putting an indefinite hold on Oracle's quest for damages in a legal fight between the two companies over Smartphone technology. The verdict was delivered on Wednesday in a San Francisco federal court. The same jury could not unanimously agree on copyright allegations earlier in the case, though the jury foreman told reporters that final vote on a key copyright issue heavily favored Google. Oracle sued Google in August 2010, saying Android, the mobile software, infringed on its intellectual property rights to the Java programming language. Oracle spokeswoman Deborah Hellinger on Wednesday said Oracle would continue to defend and uphold Java's unique functionality. The jury found earlier Oracle had proven copyright infringement for parts of Java. But the jury could not unanimously agree on whether Google could fairly use that material. Without a finding against Google on the fair use question, Oracle cannot recover damages on bulk of its copyright claims. And U.S. District Judge William Alsup has not yet decided on several legal issues that could determine how a potential retrial on copyright would unfold, if at all. Jury foreman Greg Thompson, said that at times he was the only holdout for Oracle on that fair use copyright question. When the jury finally declared itself deadlocked, the final vote count was 9-3 in favor of Google, Thompson said.