Oracle v. Google legal drama will continue well into 2016
In the seemingly endless legal war between Oracle and Google, another trial is all but certain.
But unless the two tech behemoths are able to settle through mediation, which based on a Reuters report from court on Thursday seems highly unlikely, the only big question that really remains is when.
In a case management order issued on Friday morning, both parties must file formal motions about willfulness in reference to the Oracle v. SAP case by August 6.
That will be followed a report from Dr. James Kearl, who has been tapped to provide expert testimony linked to Apple v. Samsung by August 21. Kearl has long been the court-appointed expert on the case.
Both parties have the option of filing to disqualify his testimony by September 10.
Discovery will run through December with additional expert submissions due in January 2016.
However, due to a very busy schedule for Judge William Alsup, who proceeded over the first trial, the filing said the second trial won't commence until either as early as March 28 or as late as September 12, 2016.
The throwback to the U.S. District Court for Northern California follows Google's failed attempt at getting the case heard before the U.S. Supreme Court.
After months of limbo while waiting to hear from the highest court in the land, the Supreme Court denied Google's appeal of last May's ruling that found largely in favor of Oracle.
The central issue in the case now is Google's use of 37 Java packages on the Android mobile operating system, which are touted to be protected under copyright by Oracle stemming back to its acquisition of Sun Microsystems.
Arguing that Android's supreme place in the global mobile marketplace has only grown exponentially since the first trial in 2012 -- not to mention when the lawsuit was initially filed in 2010 -- Oracle is seeking as much as $1 billion in damages.
Google has repeatedly retorted that its use of Java is protected under fair use, which helped get the search giant through the first trial in San Francisco but has since come under more scrutiny in later appeals.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, for instance, found parts of the code were in fact allowed to be protected by copyright law, giving a big nod to Oracle.
To examine the most recent court filing from Oracle v. Google, scroll through the document below: