Judge In Oracle-Google Case Given Crash Course in Java

itwbennett writes "Lawyers for Oracle and Google gave Judge William Alsup of the U.S. District Court in San Francisco an overview of Java and why it was invented, and an explanation of terms such as bytecode, compiler, class library and machine-readable code. The tutorial was to prepare him for a claim construction conference in two weeks, where he'll have to sort out disputes between the two sides about how language in Oracle's Java patents should be interpreted. At one point an attorney for Google, Scott Weingaertner, described how a typical computer is made up of applications, an OS and the hardware underneath. 'I understand that much,' Alsup said, asking him to move on. But he had to ask several questions to grasp some aspects of Java, including the concept of Java class libraries. 'Coming into today's hearing, I couldn't understand what was meant by a class,' he admitted."

Understanding

[Anonymous Coward]

To be fair, I have no idea what class means either, I drink straight out of the toilet & still prefer to do so instead of listening to such details.

Think yourselves lucky

[Anonymous Coward]

We brits have judges who had to ask what a website is (in 2007!)
http://www.metro.co.uk/news/49376-judge-asks-what-is-a-website

kinda reminds me of the classic 'Not The Nine O'Clock News Sketch'

Counsel: This receipt is for the digital watch...
Judge: ...a digital watch? What on earth is a "digital watch"?
Counsel: Sorry m'lud. A digital watch is a watch worked by microelectronics.
Judge: Oh! How fascinating. Proceed.
Counsel: The next receipt is for an automatic video recorder...
Judge: ..."automatic video recorder"?
Counsel: Yes, I'm sorry m'lud. It's a machine that records television programmes on special tape.
Judge: Oh, how fascinating. What will they think of next? Proceed.
Counsel: Thank you m'lud. And finally, a receipt for a "deluxe model inflatable woman", whatever that is.
Judge: The Deluxe is the one with the real hair...

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=not+the+nine+o%27clock+news&aq=0

Re:Why not ?

[WrongSizeGlass]

Don't you also have special judges for traffic related incidents?

Yes, they have a special title: Punished

Re:Lawyers?

[cerberusss]

Lawyers for Oracle and Google gave Judge William Alsup of the U.S. District Court in San Francisco an overview of Java [...].

Thinking about the tech knowledge of the lawyers I know, I am not sure that the Judge is a lot wiser now!

They could do worse! My wife knows everything better!

The judge has to ask the question for a reason

[Kupfernigk]

He is not allowed to use his personal knowledge as a matter of fact, and so when the trial may create case law he must ask these questions, so that the case record will explain something that may not be understood in future. Since "website" is not part of standard English, the question has to be asked. However, these apparently stupid questions only have to be asked when some facet of the case actually depends on the answer. Essentially, the judge has to elicit a citation.

It's also very good (and it happens) when a judge asks an apparently stupid question and it turns out that nobody can answer it.