Following lengthy legal proceedings between Oracle and Google which saw the former win a very small portion of their original judgment, the two companies agreed that Oracle would accept $0 in damages from Google. The proposal was enough to confuse most involved, even Judge William Alsup, who asked if there was a catch that he needed to be made aware of.
By rejecting any payout from the small victory, most believe that Oracle is simply waiving their rights in an attempt to wrap up the proceedings and move forward with an appeal. The judge reportedly asked the two parties if they would be in court again. Oracle attorney Michael Jacobs said he hoped to see him again after an appeal, a comment that drew some laughs from those in the room.
Indeed, if Oracle is successful in appeals court, the case could end up back in Alsup's courtroom. We would likely see Oracle seeking damages once again based on copyright infringement claims surrounding Google's use of Java in Android.
Oracle won a partial victory late last month against Google but fell far short of their intended goal. The company was initially seeking out billions in damages but that figure dwindled down to around $37 million after many of the patents Oracle claimed infringement on were invalidated. The judge ultimately ruled that Google only infringed on nine lines of Java code and faced limited statutory damages not to exceed $150,000.