Magistrate Judge Paul Singh Grewal ruled on April 15 that the case between Oracle and Google needs to be tried twice.
While the CEOs of both companies had a six-hour settlement conference, they did not agree to any settlement. Consequently, the court scheduled a new trial for May.
The case started back in 2012, when Oracle accused Google of infringing the Java platform by incorporating it into the Android OS. As a result, Google earned billions in profits while Java's chance of success in devices such as tablets and smartphones was crushed.
"After an earlier run at settling this case failed, the court observed that some cases just need to be tried," reads a court docket text shared by MLex senior correspondent Mike Swift on Twitter.
Oracle is seeking up to $8.8 billion in profits related to Google's use of some Java language. Google defended the use of Java and said that it is protected by the "fair use" legal doctrine. Using this doctrine, Google argues that it is therefore allowed to copy Java and use it without the need to pay a fee.
During the trial in 2012, the jury deadlocked on Google's defense that was based on the fair use doctrine. The judge of a San Francisco federal court ruled that Google's use of the Java APIs was non-copyrightable.
Oracle filed an appeal and in May 2014, and won the ruling against Google. The table was turned and this time, the appeals court sided with Oracle and said that an APIs "structure, sequence and organization" was copyrightable.
Both Oracle and Google are said to have participated in the settlement conference as ordered by the court in an attempt to avoid a retrial, which is expected to occur in May.
Obviously, a settlement was not achieved and the retrial will push through as scheduled.
"This case apparently needs to be tried twice. However unsuccessful, the court appreciates the parties' settlement efforts earlier today - especially those of Ms. Catz and Mr. Pichai," adds the court docket.
