Techno Stream reports:
Oracle Corp. (ORCL:US), which lost a shot in August at reinstating a $1.3 billion damages award against SAP SE, accepted $359 million to end its copyright lawsuit against the German software company and forgo a new trial.
German company SAP has settled its long-standing copyright-infringement lawsuit with the other tech giant Oracle after reaching a deal to pay $359 million in damages with interest to the American company instead of the $1.3 billion awarded in 2010. The agreement brings to a close a dispute that arose seven years ago between Oracle and Walldorf, Germany-based SAP, the biggest supplier of back-office business-management software.
The contention arose when Oracle said SAP in 2007 through its now-defunct subsidiary, TomorrowNow, had illegally downloaded Oracle’s software to provide software support services to its customers. The stipulated judgment entered Thursday avoids a new trial on damages and brings to an end Oracle’s suit against SAP and its defunct unit TomorrowNow Inc. over violation of copyrights on Oracle’s business software. A jury awarded $1.3 billion in damages based on the value of a hypothetical license that SAP would have negotiated for using Oracle’s copyrighted software. The federal judge in Oakland, California, presiding over the case ruled the verdict was excessive and reduced it to $272 million, drawing an appeal from Oracle.
Oracle’s General Counsel, Dorian Daley, comments “We are thrilled about this landmark recovery and extremely gratified that our efforts to protect innovation and our shareholder’s interests are duly rewarded. This sends a strong message to those who would prefer to cheat than compete fairly and legally.” Similarly, an SAP spokesman reported that SAP is just as pleased with the court’s decision, claiming that the case “ultimately accepted SAP’s arguments to limit Oracle’s excessive damages claims and that Oracle has finally chosen to end this matter.” You may know Oracle as the Silicon Valley-based company most celebrated for databases but has branched out to develop software in many other categories—sometimes in direct competition with the Germany-based SAP. Oracle filed the original trademark infringement suit in 2007, alleging that TomorrowNow—a company which SAP had acquired—had illegally downloaded some of Oracle’s software. Founded in 1998 by Andrew Nelson and Seth Ravin in 1998, TomorrowNow was providing software upgrades and technical service to PeopleSoft, that was taken over by Oracle later. In January 2005, TomorrowNow was purchased by SAP AG, a competitor of PeopleSoft bought by Oracle Corporation the same year, transferring the liability and legal wrangles to the respective new owners. In a trial that followed, TomorrowNow was found liable for copyright infringement in 2010 and SAP AG was ordered to pay $1.3 billion to Oracle but the sum was reduced to $272m on appeal.
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