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Round two for Larry vs Larry Java face-off

Google-Oracle patent case goes into second day of mediation talks

The two Larrys will be back in mediation tomorrow, after a day of talks failed to come to any resolution in the Oracle versus Google case over Java patents.

Ellison and Page, Oracle and Google CEOs respectively, were ordered to resolve their differences in front of a federal judge in California on 19 September, and will be back for another pleasant chat on 21 September at 9.30am Pacific time.

Oracle acquired a whole bunch of Java patents when it bought up Sun Microsystems and has since sued Google for $2.6bn over the Chocolate Factory's use of Java Standard Edition in its Android OS.

Judge William Alsup has been trying to get the two giants to come to some arrangement and called for top executives to begin mediation. Google put forward Andy Rubin, the chief of the Android OS, and Oracle named president and CFO Safra Catz – but the judge made it clear that top meant top, putting the two Larrys into a patent face-off.

The fact that another day of talks has been scheduled doesn't give any real indication of whether or not progress has been made, as the original order from Judge Alsup was for at least two full days of talks.

Google told The Reg that it doesn't comment on ongoing litigation, and Oracle didn't respond to a request from comment.

Google has been getting hit from all sides with patent litigation regarding Android, with Microsoft and Apple also railing against the OS, although mostly by targeting ecosystem companies like Samsung.

In retaliation, Google has hoovered up as many loose patents as it can find, buying over 2,000 from IBM in the last two months and standing to pick up around 17,000 if it can get the regulatory approval to close out its acquisition of Motorola Mobility.

However, the web giant's steps to protect its little smartphone earner may end up hurting its case against Oracle. As patent pundit Florian Mueller pointed out in his blog, regulators won't like the deal with Motorola if it comes with any hint of anti-competitiveness.

To counter that suggestion, Google is no doubt going to harp on about how Android is "open" to other manufacturers. So acceding to Oracle's demand that it close the system would probably scupper its chances of closing the Moto deal. ®

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