Oracle's patent action against Google over Android software may start as early as April or as late as September, a federal judge said.

"I am reserving my right to put the trial on in April or May, but as a practical matter mid-September may be the first time we will be able to try the case," US District Judge William Alsup said yesterday during a hearing in San Francisco .

He also told legal representatives to keep October and November open to avoid scheduling conflicts.

Oracle is seeking at least $1 billion in damages from the operator of the world's largest search engine, accusing Google of infringing its Java patents and copyrights in the Android operating system, now running on more than 150 million mobile devices.

Google has denied the claims.

Bloomberg