Lawyers for Oracle and Google tussle over Android profits

03.05.2012

While the jury continues its deliberations, Thursday's hearing was about a motion by Oracle, which complained that the Android figures Google has provided aren't reliable enough to be used to calculate damages.

The biggest portion of Oracle's damages claim is for so-called "disgorgement of profits," or the amount of money Google made from Android allegedly thanks to Oracle's intellectual property.

Oracle says Google has made $800 million from Android, mostly from advertising. But Google is allowed to deduct Android-related costs from that figure, mostly related to engineering.

The spreadsheet at issue Thursday lists some of those costs, but Oracle said they are vague and might not be accurate. It said it is unclear if some of the expenses are directly related to Android, for example.

"We're talking about huge numbers here," the judge said at one point. "If the jury finds liability, $600 million can turn on whether these numbers are any good, and no one seems to know much about the pedigree of this thing."