Oracle America, Inc. v. Google Inc.

ORDER RE WILLFULNESS AND BIFURCATION

INTRODUCTION

In this copyright-infringement action, defendant moves to preclude submitting the issue of willfulness to the jury unless and until plaintiff elects to pursue statutory'damages. For the reasons stated below, defendant’s motion is Denied. This order further addresses procedural matters related to the issue of willfulness.

'STATEMENT

Prior to this civil action, plaintiff Oracle America, Inc., acquired the .copyrights in the programming platform known as Java. Defendant Google Inc. used Java to com *948 pose its Android operating system used in mobile devices. Using the Java language itself violated no copyright, all agree, and 95 percent or more of Android constituted an original work by Google. The remaining five percent has been the issue. The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, held .that the remaining five percent infringed the structure, sequence, and organization of 37 packages of the Java Application Programming Interface. That court reversed a decision by this Court that had held the Java structure, sequence, and organization constituted a non-copyrightable “method of operation” within the meaning of…