It looks like there's finally been a new development in the Oracle vs. Google fight. For those who may be out of the loop, Oracle (who owns Sun and the Java programming language) have had patent infringement and copyright lawsuits boiling against Google for quite some time now. The patent claims are essentially related to Google's use of Java in the Android platform. Oracle claims that Android includes code which violates patents gained through the acquisition of Sun Microsystems.
The billion-dollar trial was set to begin on October 31st, but District Court Judge William Alsup has decided to postpone the proceedings. Interestingly, no date has yet been given for a potential reschedule. Evidently, Judge Alsup had hinted that the date may be moved so that he could hear a murder trial, and has now told lawyers that the Google/Oracle case may be moved to a different judge altogether. He has suggested Google and Oracle bring the case to a magistrate judge, or, alternatively, he will bring in another federal judge (something to which Google nor Oracle could object).
While the case is currently in a holding pattern, there is a possibility that the copyright and patent claims will be heard separately, which may (read probably won't) lead to a general settlement before the patent infringements are heard. At any rate, it would seem that things are beginning to get interesting again in the Google v Oracle battle, and you can bet we'll be here to report on any new details.
via Sys-Con Media