The World Series of intellectual property infringement cases is set to start today, and could run for eight weeks.

Google Inc. and Oracle Corp. are set to battle it out in a San Francisco court today.  Oracle aims to prove in court that Google infringed on their Java patents and used them in building the Android platform.

The trial will be divided into three parts: copyright claims, patent claims and damages, and will be presided over by U.S. District Judge William Alsup, who dubbed this case as the World Series of IP cases.  Two weeks will be allotted for each part of the case, but the presiding judge decided to allot eight weeks for the whole trial in case something unexpected happened.

Jury selection, opening statements, and possibly the first witness are scheduled for today.  Google CEO Larry Page and Oracle CEO Larry Ellison are both expected to testify some time during the trial.

The trial’s focus

Although Oracle is not happy with how Google used the Java patents in building the Android platform and giving it to device manufacturers to use for free, Oracle said that that is not the real issue here.  Rather, it’s Google’s use of the 37 Java application programming interfaces to allow developers to write Java-compatible codes.

APIs allow different parts of a program, as well as applications, to communicate and send information with one another.  Oracle will be arguing in court that APIs should be copyrighted, and those who want to use them should apply for a license.

“APIs are the glue that allows computer programs to talk to each other – in this case Android apps use them to access the phone’s features like its screen and memory,” said Dan Crow, chief technology officer at Songkick and a former Google tech team leader, in an interview with BBC.  “If Oracle wins the case and APIs are held to be copyrighted, then in theory, virtually every application – on Android, Mac OS, Windows, iPhone or any other platform – has to be at least re-released under new licence terms.”

“This could result in many applications being withdrawn until their legality is resolved,” Crow added.

Google argues that Java APIs should not be copyrightable since the Java programming language will be rendered useless without it.  Also, if APIs are copyrighted, this will be a nightmare for developers.

There’s no telling which way this case could go, as both sides have had their mini wins and losses leading up to now.  This battle’s been an ongoing fight between two powerhouses for a couple of years now, and the outcome of this case could change the software developer community forever.