Google and Oracle have been ordered to reveal the names of those it pays for writing articles and blogs, following a dispute between the two technology giants.
The order was issued by Judge William Alsup, the judge who presided over Oracle’s original lawsuit against Google over its Android operating system.
The original trial centred on Oracle’s claim it had been owed about $1bn (£640m) in compensation for Google’s use of its technologies in the Android system.
But the jury ruled the patents involved had not been breached, while a judge dismissed the key copyright claim.
The lawsuit was widely covered by the blogosphere, leading to a concern juries could be influenced by partisan social-media posts even though they were supposed to steer clear of any coverage of a case.
As a result, Google has now produced a lengthy list of organisations it contributes to. In contrast, Oracle named blogger Florian Mueller and Stanford professor Paul Goldstein, who said he merely advised a law firm and didn’t write about the lawsuit.
Google’s list revealed a number of academic researchers in the fields of artificial intelligence, networking, privacy and security from top institutions ranging from Cambridge, Harvard, Princeton and Stanford.
The firm also listed groups such as the US Chamber of Commerce, the Interactive Advertising Bureau and Creative Commons.
Google also disclosed that it has paid both Democratic and Republican Governors Associations.
Read Google’s list of paid writers here