The historical Google vs Oracle trail has begun. We will be covering progress of the case, thanks to Groklaw. I recommend keeping an eye on Groklaw if you are interested in this case. Don't get fooled by the so-called legal expert whose real expertise is in spinning a story in favour of Microsoft and Apple.

In the first day of trial Oracle was granted what Groklaw calls 'very late and very untimely request to augment its exhibit list'. Groklaw thinks that 'clearly Oracle is gaming the system here, but the Court is going to allow both sides some latitude at this early stage of the trial.'

In the second day of the trial Oracle boss Larry Ellison was the first live witness. Van Nest raised objection whether Ellison had the technical expertise to answer, 'Is it necessary to use the Sun API to run the Java programming Language?' to which Ellison answered yes thus overruling the objection. Then the judge asked if Larry can answer to this with personal experience to which Larry said no. Larry then said that it was not necessary to use Sun API to run the Java programming language. In order to build a case that APIs can be patented Larry said that writing API was the 'arguably one of the most difficult things we do at Oracle'. Larry also stayed away from talking about the importance of Java in $7.4 bln price tag. The judge earlier to that if he did make that claim Google's lawyer could rip him to shreds on cross examination.

Read Groklaw's reporting of the court proceedings here.