Judge Skewers Oracle Attorney For Revealing Google, Apple Trade Secrets (arstechnica.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: The federal judge who presided over the Google-Oracle API copyright infringement trial excoriated one of Oracle's lawyers Thursday for disclosing confidential information in open court earlier this year. The confidential information included financial figures stating that Google generated $31 billion in revenue and $22 billion in profits from the Android operating system in the wake of its 2008 debut. The Oracle attorney, Annette Hurst, also revealed another trade secret: Google paid Apple $1 billion in 2014 to include Google search on iPhones. Judge William Alsup of San Francisco has been presiding over the copyright infringement trial since 2010, when Oracle lodged a lawsuit claiming that Google's Android operating system infringed Oracle's Java APIs. After two trials and various trips to the appellate courts, a San Francisco federal jury concluded in May that Google's use of the APIs amounted to fair use. Oracle's motion before Alsup for a third trial is pending. Oracle argues that Google tainted the verdict by concealing a plan to extend Android on desktop and laptop computers. As this legal saga was playing out, Hurst blurted out the confidential figures during a January 14 pre-trial hearing, despite those numbers being protected by a court order. The transcript of that proceeding has been erased from the public record. But the genie is out of the bottle. Google lodged a motion (PDF) for sanctions and a contempt finding against Hurst for unveiling a closely guarded secret of the mobile phone wars. During a hearing on that motion Thursday, Judge Alsup had a back-and-forth with Hurst's attorney, former San Francisco U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag. According to the San Francisco legal journal The Recorder, Haag said that her client Hurst -- of the law firm Orrick, Herrington and Sutcliffe -- should not be sanctioned because of "one arguable mistake made through the course of a very complex litigation."

Comments

Do we have to let the winner out of the arena?

[shanen]

Kind of boggles my mind that the google thinks they made $22 billion profit on $31 billion revenue from Android. Talk about magic money? Some kind of projection of the effects of Android's success on their stock prices? Already we're dealing with fantasy here.

However, my two primary reactions were sadness and amusement.

The sadness is at the loss of the google's innocence. I used to think they were sincere about the "Don't be evil" thing, but now they are just another giant EVIL company and the corporate motto has become "All your attention are belong to us." I can't decide whether I was a gullible fool or if the transition was just inevitable under the rules of the American business game as encoded into law by the most cheaply bribed politicians.

The amusement is from watching them battling it out. I think Apple is probably the least evil of the three companies, but I can't believe any of them are innocent babes in the woods. It would suit me fine if they all died in the arena of their stupendous greed, though I guess Oracle is the greediest and most evil, which probably means Oracle will win. (Omens of Trump?)

Re:Do we have to let the winner out of the arena?

[Anonymous Coward]

"Don't be evil" was a motto from before they were a publicly traded company.

Once you have stockholders, everything you do is about making more money. Everything.

Re:Do we have to let the winner out of the arena?

[UnknowingFool]

Kind of boggles my mind that the google thinks they made $22 billion profit on $31 billion revenue from Android. Talk about magic money? Some kind of projection of the effects of Android's success on their stock prices? Already we're dealing with fantasy here.

Why does it boggle the mind? Most of the Android revenue is licensing. Google doesn't have a lot of cost when it comes to licensing.

However, my two primary reactions were sadness and amusement. The sadness is at the loss of the google's innocence. I used to think they were sincere about the "Don't be evil" thing, but now they are just another giant EVIL company and the corporate motto has become "All your attention are belong to us." I can't decide whether I was a gullible fool or if the transition was just inevitable under the rules of the American business game as encoded into law by the most cheaply bribed politicians.

Again, why? Sure Goggle has done some evil things but you're saying making money is inherently evil. How do you think Goggle can afford to be not evil as a company. Some money has to come in from somewhere.

Re:Ehical Stockholders

[Required Snark]

No they don't. One of the biggest drains on retirement savings for 401k plans is the fees charged by Wall Street. Given the end of defined benefit pensions, and the general under funding of pensions by government and business, the only hope most people have is their Wall Street based savings and home ownership, if they have not already been locked out of the housing market.

Wall Street is a rigged game: heads the insiders win, tails everyone else in the entire world looses. Remember 2008? Wall Street has ended up way ahead, and the rest of the economy is just now beginning to recover. Home owners who were victimized got squat and the bankers were bailed out. That bailout is still going on. It's called a zero interest prime lending rate. A blind poodle with diabetes can make a profit with a zero interest rate. Wall Street love the current setup. Free Money!!!

Meanwhile the gap between the very rich and everyone else is accelerating. It's a fact. So just how stupid do you have to be to support a system that is so massively corrupt?

Re:Judge is Retarded

[mysidia]

That's the kind of info that should be available to all shareholders.

Nope, Not the court's decision. It's management's decision to publish to shareholders or not.

And the information they revealed could have negative repurcussions against them as a business.

This is the kind of thing that should have resulted in a default judgement against Oracle and sanctioning their lawyers against participating in further cases.