Google on Ulitzer

Oracle is going to get the face time with Google CEO Larry Page that it wanted.

Page has been ordered to sit still and answer Oracle's questions about those Java licensing talks Google had with Sun during a two-hour deposition.

Oracle is supposed to limit its questions to "topics relevant to the willfulness of defendant's alleged patent infringement, and the value of Android" to Google.

Google said last week that it rejected Sun's proposal that Google pay $100 million in royalties to use Java in Android. A Google lawyer described the offer as a co-development deal, rather than a patent license despite an internal e-mail written by Android founder Andy Rubin saying Google needed a Java license.

Patent watcher Florian Mueller says a Rubin e-mail shows Google considered Microsoft .NET/C# as an alternative to a deal with Sun but Google didn't want to rewrite existing code so did Java anyway.

The judge figures Google decided "to roll the dice on possible litigation rather than to pay a fair price."

Still Oracle was ordered last week to recalculate its multibillion-dollar damages claims and make them more reasonable.

Google sought to avoid Page getting deposed calling it a "harassing demand" and threatening to seek a protective order.

Oracle claims Page has key information since he was the one who decided to buy Android and participated in the negotiations with Sun. He also talked to Ellison about it after Oracle bought Sun.

Oracle has deposed Rubin, now responsible of Google's mobile strategy, and Daniel Bornstein, primary architect of the Dalvik Virtual Machine and core libraries that are causing all the rumpus.