Arik Hesseldahl

Recent Posts by Arik Hesseldahl

Java Trial Judge Slaps Google Over Disclosure Order

The judge hearing the still-not-quite-complete lawsuit between Oracle and Google over Java slapped Google today for not complying with an order to disclose any financial relationships it may have with bloggers and journalists who wrote about the case.

“In the Court’s view, Google has failed to comply with the August 7 order,” Judge William Alsup wrote in an order just released.

Google and Oracle had been given until Aug. 17 to disclose the names of any journalists or bloggers on their respective payrolls who may have written about the case. Oracle had, in April, disclosed a relationship with Florian Mueller, a prominent blogger on patent law, whom Oracle had retained as a consultant.

Google, however, basically sidestepped the issue. Now, Judge William Alsup is sort of ticked off:

“The August 7 order was not limited to authors ‘paid … to report or comment’ or to ‘quid pro quo’ situations. Rather, the order was designed to bring to light authors whose statements about the issues in the case might have been influenced by the receipt of money from Google or Oracle.”

Google has until this Friday to comply with the order.

A copy of the order is embedded below:

2012.08.20 Order to Supplement Disclosure

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Nobody was excited about paying top dollar for a movie about WikiLeaks. A film about the origins of Pets.com would have done better.

— Gitesh Pandya of BoxOfficeGuru.com comments on the dreadful opening weekend box office numbers for “The Fifth Estate.”