Oracle has subpoenaed the Apache Foundation - which is squarely in the middle of the infringement suit Oracle has lodged against Google - demanding that it produce every shred of evidence it has about Google, Android, Java and the Open Handset Alliance.

Oracle wants copies of all communications, electronic and otherwise, between Google and Apache about:

• The use or distribution of Apache Harmony source or object code in Android
• Any discussion of a license or other agreement, or about any IP issues or compensation or revenue relating to Android including all communications regarding Linux, Harmony, the GPL and the Apache Software License
• The need for or wisdom of obtaining a license from Oracle or Sun
• Oracle's suit against Google including any discussion concerning indemnification
• Actual or potential use or infringement of Java technology, patents, copyrights or other IP rights by Google, Android or the Open Handset Alliance
• Licensing and terms of license of Java SE as it relates to Apache Harmony
• Apache's unsuccessful efforts to acquire a license from Sun or Oracle for a test kit for Java SE
• The need for or wisdom of Apache acquiring a license from Sun or Oracle for a test kit for Java SE.

The Apache Foundation has to turn over the discovery the morning of May 13.

Patent follower Florian Mueller thinks Apache's evidence may clarify how much of the allegedly offending code in Dalvik, the Java virtual machine used in Android and a subset of Apache Harmony, was developed by Google as well as substantiate the fact that Apache knew Harmony needed a license from Oracle/Sun. Oracle's lawyers, he says, are probably theorizing that if Apache knew then Google knew and if Google knew it plays to willful infringement.