Oracle patent news

Oracle's patents pertaining to Java were dissected during a re-review by the USPTO.  Of the 66 claims in the patents, 50 of them were subjected to reexamination.  Of those, 46 of them were ruled invalid.  At a 92 percent invalidation rate, the USPTO is sticking close to the 90 percent rejection rate that academic studies found it averages during re-reviews.

If Oracle's remaining four patents receive similar treatment, Oracle's six patents could be reduced from around 168 claims to around 51 claims.  Further, as some of the remaining claims are likely dependent claims, the damage to the patents will likely be severe, if the current course is followed.

Depleted of its legal firepower, Oracle may be forced to drop the case or offer Google a favorable licensing settlement.  In short things are looking very good for Google in the case.