Google wins key ruling in fight with Oracle over Android Oracle CEO Larry Ellison arrives for a court appearance at the federal building in San Francisco. Paul Sakuma / Associated Press / April 17, 2012 May 31, 2012, 2:55 p.m. A federal judge dealt another blow to Oracle as it seeks damage against Google in an intellectual-property case, rejecting its contention that parts of its Java programming language can be copyrighted. The ruling from U.S. District Judge William Alsup on Thursday was another setback for Oracle in the closely watched case between two tech giants. Oracle alleged that Google's Android mobile software violated patents and copyrights on its Java programming language. Oracle obtained the rights to Java in 2010 when it bought Sun Microsystems. It sued Google later that year. The court's decision upholds the principle that open and interoperable computer languages form an essential basis for software development. It's a good day for collaboration and innovation," Google said in an emailed statement. An Oracle spokeswoman could not be immediately reached for comment. Oracle's chief executive Larry Ellison, commenting Wednesday on previous rulings, insisted that Oracle had prevailed in the case. "We won on infringement," he told All Things D's Kara Swisher at the All Things D Conference in Los Angeles. A jury did find that Google infringed on Oracle's copyrights in copying a small number of lines of code, but the damages are not expected to be significant. Google CEO Larry Page evasive in Oracle patent suit testimony