If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn a commission. Learn more.
Google says it didn’t pay bloggers to write about its Java dispute with Oracle.
Google said so in a federal court filing in San Francisco on Friday, and followed it up with a statement to the press issued a few minutes later. “Our reply to the court is clear,” Google said, “no one on our side paid journalists, bloggers, or other commentators to write about this case.”
Last week, Judge William Alsup took the unusual step of ordering both Google and Oracle to name any paid bloggers in the closely watched dispute, saying he was worried that both parties “may have retained or paid print or internet authors, journalists, commentators or bloggers who have and/or may publish comments on this issues in the case.”
Oracle responded to the judge’s order Friday too, saying that it was paying one blogger — Florian Mueller, who comments on the case. Mueller disclosed his relationship with Oracle back in April. In an email interview, Mueller said he was retained by Oracle on April 18. His contract with Oracle prohibits him from spelling out exactly what Oracle pays him to do, but he says he is not paid to blog about the case. “They pay me for consulting on antitrust issues especially related to standard-essential patents,” he says.
In its filing, Oracle accused Google of having a widespread influence over the public debate over intellectual property. “Google maintains a network of direct and indirect ‘influencers’ to advance Google’s intellectual property agenda,” Oracle wrote. “The network is extensive, including attorneys, lobbyists, trade associations, academics, and bloggers.”
Oracle named two such Google-funded influencers in its court filings: Ed Black, the head of the Computer and Communications Industry Association, and Jonathan Band, a lobbyist who includes CCIA amongst his clients. Black couldn’t be reached immediately for comment, but in an email, Brand said, “Oracle until recently also was a member of CCIA. I do not represent Google.”
It’s not clear why Judge Alsup would think that the question of paid bloggers is material to this case. In his August 7 order, the judge hinted at an answer, saying, “the disclosure required by this order would be of use on appeal,” but he has yet to clearly spell out his concerns. Oracle says it plans to appeal the case.
In its filing, Google said that it would be “perhaps impossible” to identify everyone affiliated with organizations that receive money from Google. The search giant gives money to universities, contractors, non-profits, public policy groups, and it pays many bloggers via its AdSense program.
So if Judge Alsup was looking for a particular disclosure from either Google or Oracle, he’s likely to be disappointed, according to Eric Goldman a law professor at Santa Clara University. “Oracle told us about people we already knew and Google didn’t tell us about anybody,” he said. “Both parties have effectively put the issue back into the judge’s hand.”
Google’s filings essentially force the judge to either more clearly define what he is looking for, or to walk away from the issue altogether, Goldman says.
Oracle and Google have been battling it out over the past two years. Oracle says that Google’s Java clone — used in Android devices — infringes its copyright and patents. The court found that there was some minor copyright infringement, but Google won the bulk of the case.
The two parties were hashing out post-trial issues — Oracle has to pay Google’s legal fees, but the two companies disagree on the figure — when Judge Alsup’s order popped up two weeks ago.
This story has been updated throughout and corrected to state that Florian Mueller is a blogger who is paid by Oracle. An earlier version of the story incorrectly stated that he was paid by Oracle to blog.
Oracle Google 1236[#embed: https://www.scribd.com/embeds/103156715/content?start_page=1&view_mode=scroll&access_key=key-...] Google Oracle 1237 PDF[#embed: https://www.scribd.com/embeds/103157687/content?start_page=1&view_mode=scroll&access_key=key-1u0iegkdhpjuffk06dy4] Image: Google
