As the Google-Oracle trial continues into its second week, Oracle lawyers today interrogated Google executives Andy Rubin and former CEO Eric Schmidt about emails written within the company on the topic of Java licensing in 2005 and 2006.
Rubin was questioned about emails he wrote advising high ranking Google staff to acquire Sun Microsystems' platform before their eventual purchase by Oracle, Reuters reported.
"If Sun doesn’t want to work with us, we have two options: 1) Abandon our work and adopt MSFT CLR VM and C# language, or 2) Do Java anyway and defend our decision, perhaps making enemies along the way," Rubin said in a 2005 email to Google co-founder Larry Page.
Schmidt, meanwhile, stated he could not recall if employees told him that Google would have to pay for a license to use Java. Oracle alleges that Google deliberately refused to license the company's Java platform for use in its Android smartphones.
(The Verge published live coverage of Schmidt's testimony and Rubin's testimony.)
As part of its case, Oracle is attempting to prove that Google knew it needed approval to use the Java platform. Oracle lawyer David Boies has argued that executive emails show Rubin had informed Google staffers they may have to use another software base for their Dalvik platform.
Boies claims that Google blatantly lifted Java code from Sun when their attempts to acquire the company failed. However, Google believes they didn't violate the Java patents and that Oracle can't copyright certain parts of the programming language.
Oracle first presented its case against Google in 2010. Rubin and Schmidt's testimonies come after Oracle chief executive Larry Ellison took the stand to plead his company's case.
Google executives Rubin and Schmidt take stand in Oracle Java trial originally appeared on V3.
This article was originally published on V3.
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