Tech & Biz

SAP Oracle Copyright Case: SAP to Pay Oracle $1.3 Billion

by Jordan Yerman | November 24, 2010 at 08:18 am

278 views | 2 Recommendations | 2 comments

SAP Ordered to Pay Oracle $1.3 Billion in Copyright Suit

German software company SAP has been ordered to pay US rival Oracle $1.3 billion after it was found guilty of stealing and reselling Oracle's software and support. Oakland, California's US District Court found that SAP was guilty not only of heisting Oracle's software, but of going after Oracle's customers to get the support contracts, which are more valuable than the software itself.

This is the largest-ever copyright infringement award handed out in federal court.

SAP's subsidiary, TomorrowNow, had been making illegal copies of Oracle software and manuals, a claim that SAP didn't even deny. Its defense was that the damage wasn't as great as Oracle had claimed in its initial $1.65 billion complaint.

SAP isn't the only company tht looks bad after this, though. SAP put the blame on former CEO Léo Apotheker, who is now over at Hewlett-Packard, another Oracle rival. That Oracle and SAP didn't settle this out of court demonstrates just how much they hate each other.

SAP had claimed it owed only $40m, but the jury decided in Oracle's favour.

SAP said it was disappointed with the jury's decision and would look to challenge the verdict.

Safra A. Catz, Oracle’s co-president, said, “Right before the trial began, SAP admitted its guilt and liability; then the trial made it clear that SAP’s most senior executives were aware of the illegal activity from the very beginning.”

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YankeeJim

at 11:50 on November 24th, 2010

Good post.

SAP is a company with which I have had direct experience in the past. I even sold an application of their product once. Yet, I have always felt badly that Oracle, an American company lost so much market share to SAP, the monolith.

SAP got caught cheating and it cost them.

ishambat

at 15:21 on November 24th, 2010

Interesting Jim. I've worked for Oracle, and I definitely have a high view of the people there. They're doing quite well these days and their market share is increasing. This should help along.