Oracle to pay Google $1mln for court fees

PanARMENIAN.Net - Google was awarded just over $1 million in fees stemming from its patent battle with Oracle, a California court ruled, according to PC Magazine.

The judgment is a bit less than the $4 million Google wanted for fees related to court-appointed expert Dr. James Kearl, as well as electronic document discovery conducted by third-party vendor FTI Consulting.

Judge William Alsup ordered Oracle to pay up with regard to Kearl's testimony, but denied Google's request for payment on the e-document discovery.

The judge's filing comes several months after Google was handed a victory in its battle against Oracle when Alsup found that Google was within its rights to use parts of Oracle's Java programming language in the creation of Android.

According to the ruling, Google and Oracle agreed on a payment structure for Dr. Kearl's testimony before the judgment was handed down. Oracle, however, argued that the agreement did not discuss post-judgment taxing of Kearl's testimony and could, therefore, not be taxed. The court disagreed and awarded Google $1,130,320.

Google, however, lost out on the $2,900,349 it sought for e-discovery. According to Judge Alsup, the court will only cover costs related to reproducing discovery documents for use in the case. But Google sought payment for "organizing, searching, and analyzing the discovery documents."

"Most egregious are attempts to bill costs for 'conferencing, 'prepare for and participate in kickoff call,' and communications with co-workers, other vendors, and clients," Judge Alsup wrote. "These are non-taxable intellectual efforts."

In recent weeks, the two sides have been battling over whether they paid bloggers and other consultants to write about the case.