The Apple vs. Samsung patent lawsuit has been getting all the attention these days, but the Oracle vs. Google trial is not quite over yet. While Google was declared not guilty of any of the charges and doesn't have to pay anything, in wrapping up the case, the judge asked both parties to reveal whether anyone they pay, in any form, covered the case.
Oracle revealed to the court that it had the blogger Florian Mueller, who had been covering the case, as a paid consultant. Google though said that it paid no one, but revealed a list of organizations, universities and several people who had been awarded grants or were making money through Google ads and who had been commenting on the case.
Google lists one employee that tweeted about the case at one point, as well as a few people who have worked for it at some point, an intern who now writes for Ars Technica, and a law professor it asked for advice in another lawsuit.
Also in the list, for example, is Mike Masnik of the venerable TechDirt because he once worked as a consultant for the CCIA, a trade group of which Google is a member, along with many other tech companies including Oracle at one point. Masnik was quite surprised to find his name on the list.
"And, of course, if the point of this exercise is to uncover 'shills' who are really speaking on behalf of companies without disclosing it, once again this argument falls down. My position on issues related to copyright and patents has been pretty damn consistent since before Google existed," Masnik writes.
Which is pretty much the point, Google made it clear that it didn't pay anyone to write about the case, directly and indirectly. It will be interesting to see how the judge reacts this time.
Via: Google Digs Deep to Find "Shills" in Oracle Lawsuit
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