The judge in Oracle Corp.'s patent lawsuit against Google Inc. said in a filing on Wednesday that the trial won't happen until next year and he expects it will be a long one.

U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup tried to get Oracle CEO Larry Ellison and Google CEO Larry Page to work things out without a trial in face-to-face meetings in San Jose earlier this month.

But that having failed, Alsup is preparing for a trial that he said it likely to be considered a "hardship" by anyone picked for the jury.

In its suit, Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL) claims that Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) should pay more than $6 billion for Java technology it used in its Android mobile operating system. Oracle acquired the technology when it bought Sun Microsystems.

Google's lawyers reject that claim and promise to vigorously defend the search giant in court.

(Source: www.bizjournals.com)