Yes, I knew that. My comment was that I don't understand how the court
determines what lay opinions it will allow and what are dismissed as "not a
lawyer", "not an expert witness", or "hearsay".
Day 2: Second
witness, Larry Ellison live
Oracle: Is it necessary to use the
Sun API to run the Java programming language?
Google: Objection, calls
for expert testimony.
Judge to Ellison: Do you know the answer to the
question, from your own personal knowledge?
Ellison:
Yes.
Judge: Overruled.
Day 5:
Cross-examination of Brian Swetland by Google counsel Christa
Anderson
Google: Regarding Danger taking a license
from Sun,
what was your understanding?
Oracle: Objection, hearsay.
Judge
Alsup: Sustained.
Google: [ tries again ]
Oracle:
Objection.
Judge Alsup: You know that I don't like that question [ when
the witness has no direct knowledge ]… [ warns Oracle that they ] will have to
live with that
rule, too.
What happens only a couple of minutes
later, Oracle tries the same: Redirect of Brian Swetland, by Mr. Norton for
OracleOracle:
Whether you were scarred by the Danger experience
or not, you know that Danger took a license?
Google: Objection,
hearsay.
[ back and forth among Judge Alsup, Oracle and Google
regarding this ]
Day 6: Cross examination of Bob
Lee
Google: When someone contributes something to the JCP, can
that person contribute to Java and also make it free for everything to
use?
Bob Lee: Absolutely.
[Oracle objection. Sustained. He's
not a lawyer.]
...
Google: These licenses - as a software engineer -
can they be applicable to API packages?
Oracle
objection.
Judge Alsup: Is he an expert witness?
Google: No,
he's not.
Judge Alsup: I think this is specialized
knowledge.
Google: But this is facts.
Judge Alsup: No, it's
not.
IIRC there are similar examples, but I can't put my
finger on them. This seems to me to exemplify the court as a theatre for the
lawyers to perform,
and the witnesses are only pawns. Mirror_slap's piquant
descriptions of the jury have me anticipating Tenniel's
courtroom denouement.
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