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Oracle v. Google: Food Fight in Discovery Already - Hearing Feb. 9

By Pamela Jones et al.

Believe it or not, there is already a discovery dispute in Oracle v. Google. And I'm really glad, because that's the only way we can find out what has been going in discovery. What we find out now is that both parties have served the other with interrogatories, and neither is happy with the other's answers, so both are writing letters to the judge, calling them motions to compel. We get to see Google's answers to Oracle's interrogatories, and that really fleshes out Google's position for me.

Oracle, though, feels that there's not enough flesh on the bones, not enough for them to prepare for depositions, so Oracle filed a motion to compel [PDF] in the form of a letter to Judge William Alsup, the presiding judge, on February 1, seeking to force Google to supplement its responses to interrogatories. But Google feels that it can't do any better until Oracle provides more specificity, so it then sent a couple of letters to the judge also, one responding [PDF] to the issues raised by Oracle's motion to compel and a second a motion to compel [PDF], telling the judge that Oracle has failed to fulfill its obligations in discovery and that "the parties have reached an impasse regarding the adequacy of Oracle's Patent Local Rule 3-1 disclosures, and we request the Court's assistance in resolving the issues about which the parties disagree."

There will be a hearing February 9th at 11 AM at the US District Court for the Northern District of California, Courtroom 9, 19th Floor, at the courthouse at 450 Golden Gate Avenue, San Francisco, CA, to resolve all the discovery issues. The lawyers have to show up at 8 AM at a meet and confer, and if it's not settled by 11 AM, which I doubt it will be, the hearing begins and the judge will settle it.

Full post as published by Groklaw on February 07, 2011 (boomark / email).