Oracle vs Google court showdown delayed

The trial date for the Oracle versus Google patent battle has been postponed, as expected, and may get a new judge.

Judge William Alsup announced that an unrelated criminal trial he had previously thought might push back the date for Oracle to make its case against the Chocolate Factory would indeed delay the IP punch-up.

The court filing said:

Due to a lengthy criminal trial set to begin on October 24, 2011, the final pretrial conference set for October 24 and the jury trial set to begin on October 31 are both vacated. Dates for the final pretrial conference and trial will be re-set in due course.

The delay should please Google, as Oracle was the party pushing for a speedy trial to put pressure on the web giant to settle.

The two firms have been going toe-to-toe over Google’s use of Java Standard Edition in its Android operating system, with both patents and copyright at issue.

Judge Alsup also said he was considering asking another Northern California judge to take over the case, because he had never been so overworked in the 37 years of his professional life, according to a Reuters report.

"Your case is huge and needs the attention of somebody who can give it more time than I can," the knackered judge said. ®