Judge Paul Grewal signaled Monday that one last attempt at mandated settlement talks between Google and Oracle had failed. The two had encountered another “irreconcilable impasse” and wouldn’t be attempting to negotiate a peace on the Android patent dispute before the trial started on April 16. In a memo, Judge Grewal gave an exasperated tone and concluded that the case would have to reach its final conclusion.
“Some cases just need to be tried,” he said.
Details of what happened during the talks remain unknown.
Oracle has typically been the one to refuse compromise in the case. While it has had to reduce the number of copyrights and patents it can bring to trial, it has refused to take royalties and has usually been focused on maximizing the payout as well as the threat of a ban. Google has mostly been hoping to avoid the ban as well as any large royalties that might be untenable or force it to start charging Android partners for licenses.
Google has mostly dropped attempts to deny that it used Java code without a license in Android, with incriminating e-mail showing that executives were aware that they needed a license. However, it has pointed to a pre-Oracle Sun having been openly supportive of Java, and has successfully avoided Oracle damage claims that could have ranged into the billions; the trial will be split into phases that could see Google opt to settle if it’s found to have violated Oracle’s patents before the full trial is over
