In a Feb. 6, 2012 decision, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit denied Google’s petition for a writ of mandamus, rejecting Google’s efforts to overturn repeated rulings by Magistrate Judge Donna M. Ryu and Judge William H. Alsup (N.D. Cal.) that an internal Google email was not privileged.  In a terse opinion, the Federal Circuit agreed with the lower court that Google had failed to make a “clear showing” that an email sent by Google engineer Tim Lindholm to Google’s Android chief Andy Rubin and a Google in-house attorney was protected by the attorney-client privilege or the work product doctrine.  In re Google, Misc. Docket No. 106 (Fed. Cir. Feb. 6, 2012).

The Lindholm Email

The Aug. 6, 2010 Lindholm email has become a centerpiece in the Oracle v. Google Java/Android litigation as the parties appear headed for a trial as early as April 2012.  In his email, Mr. Lindholm discussed technical alternatives to Java, observing: (more…)