Oracle patent claims versus Google sent to jury

By Dan Levine

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A California jury began another round of deliberations on Tuesday in a high profile trial over allegations that Google's Android mobile platform violates Oracle's intellectual property rights.

The jury has already wrestled with Oracle's copyright claims against Google and delivered a partial verdict last week. Now, jurors are mulling Oracle's patent claims, but the potential patent damages appear far less than what is involved in the copyright allegations.

Oracle sued Google in August 2010, saying Android infringes on its intellectual property rights to the Java programming language. Google says it does not violate Oracle's patents and that Oracle cannot copyright certain parts of Java, an "open-source," or publicly available, software language.

The trial in San Francisco federal court has been divided into three phases: copyright liability, patent claims, and damages.

In court on Tuesday, attorneys for both companies made their closing arguments on patents. Oracle attorney Michael Jacobs said it does not matter that Oracle's patents only cover certain small parts of Android.

"You don't avoid infringement because Android is big," Jacobs said, adding that Google's conduct was reckless.

Google attorney Robert Van Nest said the company designed Android from scratch, and that there is no evidence Google encountered the patented technology until Oracle threatened litigation.

"There's not a single document, not an email," Van Nest said.

While Oracle is seeking roughly $1 billion in copyright damages, the patent damages in play are much lower. Before trial, Google offered to pay Oracle roughly $2.8 million in damages on the two patents remaining in the case, covering the period through 2011, according to a filing made jointly by the companies.

For future damages, Google proposed paying Oracle 0.5 percent of Android revenue on one patent until it expires this December and 0.015 percent on a second patent until it expires in April 2018. Oracle rejected the settlement offer.

During trial, U.S. District Judge William Alsup revealed that Android generated roughly $97.7 million in revenue during the first quarter of 2010.

The jury found last week that Oracle had proven copyright infringement for parts of Java. But the jury could not unanimously agree on whether Google could fairly use that material.

Without a finding against Google on that fair use question, Oracle cannot recover damages on the bulk of its copyright claims. Alsup has not yet decided on several legal questions that could determine how a potential retrial would unfold.

The case in U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, is Oracle America, Inc v. Google Inc, 10-3561.

(Reporting By Dan Levine; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)

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NY AG claims fraud by NYC leasing company

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman on Monday sued a company that leases credit card machines to small businesses, claiming Northern Leasing Systems Inc. fraudulently attempted to drain more than $10 million from 100,000 former customers with expired leases.

The attorney general's office said the Manhattan-based company kept at least $3.5 million from the scheme launched in March 2011, while disguising it by working through a shell company called SKS Associates LLC. The complaint also names Northern Leasing affiliates Lease Finance Group LLC, MBF Leasing LLC, Golden Eagle Leasing LLC and Lease Source-LSI LLC all operating from the same address.

"These companies engaged in a series of deceptions to squeeze unauthorized fees out of their former customers up to a decade after their contracts expired," Schneiderman said.

The lawsuit filed in state Supreme Court in Manhattan seeks restitution, disgorgement of profits, penalties and fees. Schneiderman says the investigation was prompted by more than 70 complaints, and the company claimed it was collecting taxes and administrative fees previously unpaid.

"The taxes and fees in question were clearly called for in the lease agreement with our customers," Northern Leasing said Monday. "The company looks forward to demonstrating this to the satisfaction of everyone concerned. We have always prided ourselves on the fairness of our business practices."

The attorney general's complaint noted at least two class-action lawsuits and hundreds of complaints against Northern Leasing alleging predatory sales practices and deceptive lease agreements from customers, many of which are sole proprietors or mom-and-pop retailers. Leases typically had four-year terms with automatic monthly payments that required customers to give their checking account and bank routing numbers.

"Ultimately, over 77 percent of the amounts sought by SKS were not even taxes at all but merely alleged 'fees' related to the taxes," the complaint said. "Respondents debited former customers with expired contracts, including many customers who had received releases from their contracts when they executed buyout options to purchase the equipment."

Northern Leasing describes itself as an established provider of third-party equipment leasing services that enable business owners to finance point-of-sale and other key equipment components, that it also provides financing for equipment and leasing, and was established in 1991.

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Judge dismisses claims against banks in GE lawsuit

By Nick Brown

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A federal judge on Wednesday dismissed claims against Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYS:GS - News), JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYS:JPM - News) and 40 other defendants that they helped mislead investors in General Electric Co's $12.2 billion stock offering in 2008.

U.S. District Judge Denise Cote, who took over the case in February, said a January ruling denying the defendants' bid to dismiss claims failed to consider key court rulings and improperly relied on certain statements.

Cote's ruling does not entirely dismiss the class action lawsuit filed by GE investors, keeping intact claims that GE (NYS:GE - News) and its chief financial officer, Keith Sherin, made misleading statements about the quality of the company's loan portfolio.

The State Universities Retirement System of Illinois, the lead plaintiff, filed the lawsuit in 2009, saying GE and myriad financial firms were responsible for investor losses during a six-month period when GE's stock price fell to about $10 from about $26.

The plaintiffs alleged that GE withheld information regarding its health and the health of its GE Capital finance arm, including exposures to subprime and other low-quality loans. They also said GE misleadingly touted itself as being safer than rivals, despite the effects of the financial crisis.

Among those dismissed from the lawsuit on Wednesday are Barclays PLC (LSE:BARC.L - News), Citigroup (NYS:C) and Bank of America Corp (NYS:BAC - News).

"The January opinion improperly relied on statements that were not incorporated into the offering documents, and on statements that were modified and superseded by later statements," Cote said.

It also failed to take into account a court ruling that had established rules on whether stated opinions could be grounds for a lawsuit, Cote said.

Attorneys for the dismissed defendants did not respond to requests for comment. Lawyers for the plaintiffs could not immediately be reached.

A GE spokesman did not respond to an email seeking comment.

The case is In re: General Electric Co Securities Litigation, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 09-01951.

(Additional reporting by Jonathan Stempel; Editing by Ryan Woo)

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La insurer asks for Supreme Court appeal on claims

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Louisiana's property insurer of last resort has asked the nation's highest court to hear an appeal of a $104.6 million award to 18,500 policyholders who sued over slow adjustment of hurricane claims in 2005.

The action by Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp. came as an order was issued to the East Baton Rouge Parish sheriff to get the money from the insurer's bank.

In a statement, plaintiff attorney Fred Herman said a state district judge in Jefferson Parish would decide how to divide the money once it is turned over by Regions Bank.

Citizens' chief executive, Richard Robertson, said a request for the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case was filed Wednesday. There was no indication of when the court might decide to accept or reject the request.

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Judge rules for DuPont on Kevlar antitrust claims

DOVER, Del. (AP) -- A federal judge in Virginia has ruled in favor of DuPont Co. in a dispute with a South Korean company that lost a trade secrets lawsuit last year.

The judge late Thursday granted summary judgment to DuPont on antitrust claims by Kolon Industries alleging that DuPont tried to monopolize the market for high-strength synthetic fibers used in products such as Kevlar body armor.

Earlier this year, the judge refused to overturn a jury's decision in the underlying trade secret lawsuit.

The jury ruled that Kolon had maliciously and willfully misappropriated DuPont's Kevlar technology and awarded DuPont a $919 million damage award.

DuPont says it will begin proceedings shortly to enforce that judgment, and that it has filed a motion requiring Kolon to stop making products using the stolen technology.

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Taco Bell denies claims in Okla. salmonella suit

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) -- A lawsuit filed by an Oklahoma woman who claimed she contracted salmonella after eating at Taco Bell has been transferred to federal court.

A judge in Cleveland County approved the transfer last week. Leah Smith sued Taco Bell in February, claiming that she was sick for two weeks after eating at Taco Bell. She's seeking more than $75,000 in damages. Taco Bell is a unit of Louisville, Ky.-based Yum Brands Inc., which is one of the largest fast food companies in the world with other units including KFC and Pizza Hut.

In a court filing, Taco Bell denied it was liable for Smith's illness. The company asked a federal judge to dismiss it from the lawsuit.

The Centers for Disease Control said that 68 people — including 16 in Oklahoma — were infected with salmonella after eating at a "Mexican-style fast-food restaurant chain."

The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Joe Heaton.

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