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Microsoft, Oracle, Kayak and other technology and search companies in the FairSearch.org coalition have filed a complaint with the European Union over Google’s Android mobile operating system, saying that the platform gives the tech giant an unfair advantage in mobile search.

Google Inc and Oracle Corp's copyright and patent battle took a strange twist on Tuesday, after a judge ordered the companies to disclose the names of journalists, bloggers and other commentators on their payrolls.

Penney CEO Ron Johnson has said the retailer had too many legacy systems that were all customized and so came with expensive maintenance costs. The outsourcing move is one of the cost-saving decisions that Johnson is implementing with the goal of coming up with $900 million in annual expense cuts. Those cuts are paying for Penney’s transformation into “America’s favorite store.” Penney employees will run Oracle’s software and it no longer will need as many IT people as it did to run and update its legacy systems.

Oracle Corp violated a clear contract with Hewlett-Packard Co when it decided it would no longer make new versions of its database software compatible with HP's Itanium-based servers, a lawyer for HP said in court.

Google Inc's Android mobile platform has not infringed Oracle Corp's patents, a California jury decided, putting an indefinite hold on Oracle's quest for damages in a fight between the two Silicon Valley giants over smartphone technology.

A court ruled that Google infringed on copyrights held by Oracle, but it also said that Google had not violated other important parts of Oracle’s software known as Java.

To recap, Google’s chief legal officer, David Drummond, sent a shot across the bow of Apple, Microsoft and Oracle, accusing them of participating in an “organized campaign” to take Google’s Android platform down through patent lawsuits.

In its quarterly earning released on Monday, IBM reported revenues of $26.7 billion – up 12% from the same period last year. With IBM reporting its 4th consecutive quarter of double digit revenue growth, its shares have marched higher since its announcement. The stock is up nearly 50% in the last year surpassing Microsoft as the second largest technology company by market cap behind Apple. IBM’s primary competitors include HP, Dell and Oracle.

Hewlett-Packard Co. has sued its friend-turned-foe Oracle Corp. in another sign of how badly the relationship between the information technology big shots has frayed.

Oracle abandoned OpenOffice, but now it seems, thanks to IBM, that it may live on with another organisation.