Dive Brief:

• Oracle’s lengthy legal battle with Google over the Android operating system won’t be over anytime soon. A U.S. judge said on Thursday the case will likely not proceed to another trial until mid-2016.

• Oracle sued Google in 2010 and is seeking $1 billion in copyright claims.

• The case involves how much copyright protection should extend to the Java programming language.

Dive Insight:

Google used Java, which was developed by Oracle, to design the Android operating system. Oracle is now seeking royalties. Last month, the U.S. Supreme sent the case back to San Francisco federal court. But on Thursday, U.S. District Judge William Alsup said that a number of legal issues must be resolved before a retrial on fair use and damages.

Meanwhile, Oracle said Android is in a "dramatically enhanced market position" now compared with when legal proceedings first began in 2010.

The case is of significant interest to people in the IT industry, as the lines between copyright and “fair use” can be very unclear.

Google's Android operating system is the best-selling smartphone platform in the world, according to Reuters.