Oracle’s patent and copyright assault on Google cost the search giant more than $4 million, the company said in court documents filed yesterday, mostly to process the mountains of documents associated with the litigation. Those costs don’t include one cent of lawyers’ fees, which was surely the largest cost for both sides in the case.
The rules of federal court allow the “prevailing party” in a lawsuit to recover its costs—usually for things like transcripts and photocopies—but not the fees paid to its lawyers. Google’s legal fees aren’t known in this case, but were likely in the tens of millions of dollars. Lawyers’ fees are typically recouped only in cases where one side engages in some type of misconduct.
Google’s costs here fall into three categories: $2.9 million for processing and duplicating documents, $987,000 for paying one-half of the compensation for the court-appointed damages expert, and $143,000 for paying for transcripts needed for the case.
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