The jury will now hear evidence relating to two patents that Oracle claims Google breached in the next phase of the trial. Larry Ellison, chief executive and founder of Oracle, lined up to fight Google in August 2010, when his company first took action. Initially Oracle was seeking $6.1bn in damages from Google, which it claimed had "knowingly, directly and repeatedly infringed Oracle's Java-related intellectual property". However, Google has successfully whittled Oracle's claim down to just two patents and a possible $1bn in damages. It has consistently dismissed the allegations, arguing that it does not violate Oracle's patents and that Oracle cannot copyright certain parts of Java in the first place. Even so, the court case, which began last month, is one of the biggest patent lawsuits the technology sector has seen, and has already yielded some fireworks and surprises from two of the biggest companies in Silicon Valley.