With the epic legal battle between Google and Oracle winding down, Judge William Alsup today made an unusual demand: the parties need to tell the court who its paid advocates are.

Alsup is worried that Google and Oracle 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." The information could "be of use on appeal or on any remand to make clear whether any treatise, article, commentary, or analysis on the issues posed by this case are possibly influenced by financial relationships to the parties or counsel."

We know of at least one blogger who fits the description: Florian Mueller of the FOSS Patents blog disclosed in April that he counts Oracle as a client. If Oracle and Google comply with the order, we may discover that others involved in the public debate are on the take from one of the parties in the case.

But it's not clear that such an order is consistent with the Constitution. At least one legal scholar, Eric Goldman of Santa Clara University, has questioned whether the order is constitutional. Read more in-depth comments from experts on the constitutionality of this order here.

Th full text of the order is below: