US Patent Office invalidates fifth Oracle patent

Groklaw reports that the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has invalidated another Oracle patent (RE38104). The decision is non-final, and Oracle has until 16 April to file a response, said Groklaw. Another new document indicates that the USPTO is upholding its rejection of patent number 6910205 despite Oracle's objections. Oracle has until 19 March to file a response.

This means that the USPTO has only fully upheld one (6061520) of the seven patents that were the original basis of a patent infringement suit by Oracle against Google's Android smartphone operating system. Oracle can still respond to most of the patent rejections. Last week, the company withdrew one of the patents in question, which means that the case now only involves five patents.

Although the USPTO's decisions are non-final, they are likely to weaken Oracle's position in the jury's view. For this reason, the company had attempted to exclude the non-final patent rejections from proceedings. When the trial will begin remains an open question. Recently, the judge responsible for the case had said that a first trial date will only be set when Oracle presents an acceptable damages report. Such a report has now been submitted, but Google has raised objections.

(djwm)