Google and Oracle have to submit a list bloggers and journalists, whom they allegedly paid over the course of their Java copyrights and patents lawsuit, as ordered by a US District Court judge.

Judge William Alsup told both companies to release the names by Friday next week (August 17), which means the federal court believes one party paid writers to comment and publish articles related to the case’s proceedings.

The order reads,

The Court is concerned that the parties and/or counsel herein may have retained or paid print or internet authors, journalists, commentators or bloggers who have and/or may publish comments on the issues in this case.

Although proceedings in this matter are almost over, they are not fully over yet and, in any event, the disclosure required by this order would be of use on appeal.

Oracle’s representative said that the business software giant will adhere to the order imposed by Judge Alsup, saying, “Oracle has always disclosed all of its financial relationships in this matter, and it is time for Google to do the same. We read this order to also include indirect payments to entities who, in turn, made comments on behalf of Google.”

The court order is hot on the heels of a trial between Google and Oracle, with the search giant winning against Oracle in May. The latter, however, has announced to pursue an appeal.

The final ruling by Judge Alsup was that the 37 application programming interfaces (APIs) Oracle claimed Google infringed upon were not copyrightable. Consequently, the judge obliged Oracle to pay $4 million for Google’s legal expenses, which is still under negotiations.

Google has yet to give word about the current court order.

(More: Google Wins Court Ruling Against Oracle Over Java APIs)

Source: Judge Alsup’s Order

Image: Chika Watanabe via Flickr (CC)

About Francis Rey Balolong

A coffee junkie who spends most of his time writing about the latest news on social media and mobile technology. I would definitely consider myself a nerd (in the coolest most hipster way possible). That being said, I love technology, music, writing, and all things mobile. Follow me: Google+ Twitter

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