Opinion
No. C 10-03561 WHA
10-26-2011
ORACLE AMERICA, INC., Plaintiff, v. GOOGLE INC., Defendant.
PROPOSED TRIAL PLAN
The jury trial will be trifurcated into three phases, all before the same jury, as follows:
Phase one. Liability on the copyright claims, including all defenses thereto, will be tried and determined by special verdict before going to Phase Two.All evidence presented in an earlier phase can be used by counsel and by the jury in a subsequent phase as relevant to the issues then on trial. If, for example, more general "Java" issues are pertinent in Phase One, such as implied license, laches, equitable estoppel, and waiver, then the more general evidence on "Java" may be presented in Phase One and considered again, as relevant, in any subsequent phase. There will need to be evidence-presentation time limits per side for each phase with the understanding that unused time may be carried forward to a subsequent phase. The time limits will be set later.
Phase Two. Liability on the patent claims, including all defenses for the jury. The jury will decide these issues before going to Phase Three.
Phase Three. All remaining issues will be tried, including damages and willfulness.
By NOON ON N OVEMBER 18, 2011, counsel may critique the proposed plan. If there are objections, then case law, rules, or statutes must be cited as well as the particular evidence/advocacy problems. Although the trial will not be in 2011, the Court needs some lead time to pre-clear a venire for hardship for a long trial.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
WILLIAM ALSUP
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE