Keywords: Oracle, SAP, corporate-theft, TomorrowNow, enterprise software

Oracle-SAP retrial to begin in August

Sarah Feurey | News | 9 July 2012

• Print
•        

The retrial of Oracle's corporate-theft lawsuit against SAP will begin with jury selection on 27^th August, according to a court filing on Friday and the same judge as in the first trial, U.S. District Court Judge Phyllis Hamilton, will preside over the second trial.

SAP has already admitted liability for illegal downloads of Oracle software and support materials conducted by a former subsidiary, TomorrowNow. The retrial will therefore centre on the extent of damages owed to Oracle by SAP.

In November 2010 Oracle won a $1.3bn jury award against SAP, however this was considered excessive and Oracle was offered the choice of accepting a lower settlement or a new trial on damages.

SAP previously asked the judge to prevent Oracle's lawyers from using words like "theft" and "stealing" during the retrial to describe TomorrowNow's conduct and at a hearing on 24^th May the request was granted.

Judge Hamilton ruled that the words are "inflammatory" and might be prejudicial to SAP. Moreover, the case is a civil one, not a criminal one, and such language could "confuse the jury."

The companies' dispute has broader implications for the enterprise software market, in that it focuses on the issue of software maintenance performed by parties besides the original vendor.