If you followed the string of court battles between Oracle and Google over the last few months and centering around the use of Java code for Android, the name Annette Hurst is probably quite familiar to you. The eagle-eyed lawyer with a nose for facts and quite the talent with words was far from afraid to speak her mind and at one point did even reveal sensitive Google financial information. Specifically, she revealed how much Google pays Apple to keep Search on the iPhone and she also revealed rough figures for just how much money Google makes from Android. This key information caused quite a stir when it was let out, becoming the headline of multiple news stories. With the sensitive nature of the information, Google was sent scrambling to run damage control, and now they want Oracle and Hurst to pay for that revelation.
Google asked the judge to scrub the transcript and have all forms of it redacted as needed, then sealed. While the information did seem to be retracted from public view, by that time the figure had already been made public following extensive news coverage. Although official records had been essentially wiped clean, the figures made headlines in both online and print news through the tech world. According to Google’s lawyer, Bruce Baber, this happened due to “Oracle’s failure to take remedial action”. After multiple motions to multiple parties looking to scrub the information were turned down, Google turned to Oracle for relief.
Mountain View is after a reimbursement to the tune of $3.9 million for the costs of managing the leak and getting expert legal advice on how to deal with the issue, and they are seeking sanctions against Annette Hurst. There is a possibility that the fact that the disclosure also affected Apple could come into play, but so far, there has been no word from Cupertino on the case. Either way, no decision will be made by US District Judge William Alsup for at least a few weeks, if not some months. Google has the option to put the matter somewhere on the judge’s calendar, and Oracle can chime in at any point before a decision is rendered.