Oracle Chief Executive Officer Larry Ellison siad that his company considered making a smartphone running Java prior suing Google over allegedly using Java parts in its Android software.

"We explored that idea and decided it would be a bad idea," Ellison said yesterday under questioning by Google lawyer, at the U.S. District Court in San Francisco, where a trial is held.

Oracle has decided instead to sue its potential smartphone rival Google for copyright and patent infringement. The legal dispute between Google and Oracle is over whether Google built its Android software by improperly taking some of the technology from Java. Oracle acquired the rights to Java when it bought Sun in January 2010. Oracle is seeking $1 billion in damages over claims its use of Java software requires it to pay licensing fees.

A year earlier, Oracle had also looked at buying BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM) or phone-maker Palm, according to Ellison's testimony.

The trial in San Francisco is expected to last eight to ten weeks.