Judge William Alsup, who's hearing the Oracle v Google suit over Android, has given the pair a terse one-paragraph order ahead of the Daubert hearing Google asked for next week to limit possible damages.

"It appears," he said, that it's "possible that early on Google recognized that it would infringe patents protecting at least part of Java, entered into negotiations with Sun to obtain a license for use in Android, then abandoned the negotiations as too expensive, and pushed home with Android without any license at all."

He wants to know "How accurate is this scenario? Does Google acknowledge that Android infringes at least some of the claims if valid? If so, how should this affect the damages analysis? How should this affect the questions of willfulness and equitable relief? Counsel should be prepared to address these issues at the hearing" on July 21.

IP analyst Florian Mueller told IDG the judge appears to be pushing Google to settle the multibillion-dollar suit. Google of course figures it's owed $2.6 billion.