Quick Recap: The Oracle-Google intellectual property infringement trial started on Monday, jury members were selected, and CEOs from both sides, Larry Page of Google and Larry Ellison of Oracle, already took the stand but Google’s CEO’s time on the stand was cut short on the second day, so he took the stand again on Wednesday.

Day 3

During Page’s time on the stand, he mostly answered “I don’t recall,” to many of David Boies’ questions.  Boies is Oracles’ top litigator and is known for making CEOs sweat in their seats.  Though Page’s testimony did not shed light on the trial, he was persistent in his claim that Google did nothing wrong.

Page’s denial or lack of knowledge worked in his favor as U.S. District Judge William Alsup, who’s presiding over the case, blocked most of Boies’ attempts to display exhibits in court since Page claimed he couldn’t recall seeing them.  Though it seems to be the right tactic, it can still backfire since there’s proof of his involvement.

“His denial of knowledge and recollection contrasts with evidence of his personal involvement with the decision to use Java without a license,” said Florian Mueller, an intellectual property analyst and author of a popular blog on patents. “There’s a lot at stake here not only for his company but also for his own reputation.”

Page’s clueless disposition in court may also backfire with the jury.  A very important matter like this, especially if your company’s future is at stake, isn’t something a person just forgets.

“I think it’s not unreasonable to expect that people don’t remember details of every email they sent or received,” said Tyler Ochoa, professor at the High Technology Law Institute at Santa Clara University School of Law. “But certainly when it comes to something as important to Google as the use of Java and the development of Android, you’d think that’s something he would have better recall about.”

Boies managed to show some exhibits, particularly the e-mail between Andy Rubin and Page which showcased that Page new they were infringing Sun Microsystems’ patents.  But Page stated that the e-mail pertained to their previous failed plan of partnering with Sun.

“We really wanted to use Sun’s technology,” Page said. “It would have saved us a lot of time and trouble to use Sun’s technology. When we weren’t able to have our business partnership, we went down our own path.”

Boies managed to get a straight answer from Page when he asked if Google acquired a license to use Java APIs which Page answered that Java APIs aren’t covered by US copyright laws since they aren’t a form of creative expression.

Oracle’s lawyer also inquired about Google engineer Tim Lindholm’s e-mail to Rubin, which stated that the engineer was asked by Page and Google co-founder Sergey Brin to review other alternatives to Java.  Lindholm’s e-mail stated that all other Java alternative “sucks” and Rubin should negotiate a Java license.

Page of course denied asking Lindholm to look for Java alternatives, and it came across like he didn’t even know who Lindholm was.  He did, however, state that the Lindholm’s e-mail misspelled Brin’s first name as “Sergei.”

Google stated that APIs cannot and should not be copyrighted, so Boies used this to further grill Google’s CEO.  Boies asked Page if Google copyrighted the APIs that run its services.

“I am not sure,” Page responded. “I think things are copyrighted by default, but I am not a lawyer.”

Boies followed up by asking if Google might use copyrights to prevent outsiders from improperly using their technology.

“Google is a company based on intellectual property,” Page said. “That’s one of the major intellectual property protections.”

Page left the courtroom with a smile on his face.  Before he left, he was informed by the judge that Oracle might call him back to once again testify during the trial.