Google Wants Judge to Dismiss Four Charges in Oracle Suit

Google is hoping to head off some of the complaints Oracle has made against it by asking a California judge for permission to file summary judgment on four issues.

Google's lawyers filed the requests, which cover an array of issues, late on Tuesday.

In one of the requests, Google asks the judge to rule that should Oracle win, it should only collect damages starting when it first gave notice to Google that it was infringing the patents, in July 2010. According to the so-called "marking statute," if proper licensees of the patents haven't indicated on their products that they are using the patents, a company cannot collect damages from an infringer until the company sends notification of the infringement.

At issue is whether Oracle has labeled any products in the market as being licensed to use the relevant patents. Google refers to an earlier Oracle document where Oracle admits that it isn't aware of any commercial products that are marked as using the patents. As such, Google argues it shouldn't be liable for damages until after July 2010, when Oracle notified it of the infringement. If the judge agrees, the potential damages Oracle could collect if it wins the suit would be significantly reduced.

In another request, Google would like to ask the judge to throw out the invalidity claims of one of the patents because it says that Sun broadened the patent's scope improperly. Google claims that Sun, which created Java and related patents that are now owned by Oracle, broadened the patent after a two-year limit during which applicants are allowed to broaden the scope of a patent.

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