Google is about to get another setback in defending Android in the courtroom as ruling from the Oracle vs Google case is expected to be reversed, according to information from litigation reporters present at the hearing.

Oracle and Google have been involved in a high-profile lawsuit for over three years in which Oracle has claimed that Google has infringed on copyrighted intellectual property of the company. Oracle alleged that Google infringed on seven patents and copyrights with the Android mobile operating system. Damages estimated by Oracle were a whopping $6 billion but the claim was played down by the judge at the time.

The case has seen varied responses from the companies and the jury over the period of time. It was eventually ruled that Google will not have to pay any damages and Oracle was asked to pay the legal fees. However, that didn't stop Oracle from challenging the verdict and continuing the legal battle. They gained support from Microsoft earlier in the year, who themselves have been successfully dealing with patent infringing Android vendors.

Now, a hearing of the appeals court has gone underway and litigation reporters from various media outfits are reporting that the initial ruling is expected to be reversed and might go in favour of Oracle. The appeals court seems to have accepted that the infringed code was indeed copyrightable.

Some of the tweets that appeared regarding the hearing can be seen below.

Just got out of oracle/google hearing. Panel sounded skeptical of Alsup ruling against Oracle on copyrightability of Java apis — Dan Levine (@FedcourtJunkie) December 4, 2013 Federal Circuit sounds ready to reverse Alsup and find Java declaring code was copyrightable. #googacle — Scott Graham (@ScottKGraham) December 4, 2013

If the ruling does get reversed in the coming weeks, a retrial will take place to determine fair use in case District court fails to find remedies.

Source: FOSS Patents