Oracle Asks for Retrial Against SAP in TomorrowNow Case

A federal judge last year lowered the award to Oracle by US$1 billion

By John Ribeiro
Tue, February 07, 2012

IDG News Service — Oracle has chosen a new trial in its lawsuit against SAP for copyright infringement, rejecting the reduction of a jury verdict by about US$1 billion by a federal court in September last year.

The company rejected the Judge's ruling lowering the jury verdict, and chose a new trial, Oracle's attorney, Geoffrey M. Howard said in a filing Monday before the United States District Court, Northern District of California, Oakland division.

"We are disappointed that Oracle has passed up yet another opportunity to resolve this case," SAP said in a statement. "We will continue to work to bring this case to a fair and reasonable end."

Judge Phyllis Hamilton overturned in September a $1.3 billion award Oracle won against SAP in its corporate theft trial, in which SAP admitted liability for illegal downloads of Oracle software and support materials by a former subsidiary, TomorrowNow, which provided lower-cost support for Oracle applications.

The Judge however approved SAP's request that Oracle accept a lower award. The verdict grossly exceeded the actual harm to Oracle in the form of lost customers, she said.

If Oracle were to reject the reduction of the amount to $272 million, the court would order a new trial as to the amount of actual damages, Judge Hamilton said.

Oracle had argued that SAP should pay damages based on a "hypothetical" cost that SAP would have to pay to license the software legally. The court found that there was insufficient evidence for a reasonable jury to find that Oracle was entitled to a hypothetical license.

Accepting the Judge's ruling would force Oracle to risk waiving its right to appeal the court's decision on motions for judgment as a matter of law and for a new trial, Howard said in the filing.

"Oracle's objective is to obtain clarification of the law and, if it is right about what the law is and what the evidence supports in this case, to vindicate the verdict of the jury and Oracle's intellectual property rights as a copyright owner," Howard added.

John Ribeiro covers outsourcing and general technology breaking news from India for The IDG News Service. Follow John on Twitter at @Johnribeiro. John's e-mail address is john_ribeiro@idg.com

What is Tech Briefcase?

TechBriefcase is a new, free service where IT Professionals can Search, Store and Share IT white papers and content like this. Learn more

Bookmark content

Speed up your research efforts with content across the web.

Search and Store

Find the white papers you need. Create folders for any topic.

View Anywhere

Open your briefcase on your iPhone, tablet or desktop. Share with colleagues.

Don't have an account yet?

You are here: Business/Management Topics » Legal » News

Most Recent Legal Stories

White Papers »

Measuring the Business Value of CI in the Data Center

One of the key strategies that IT teams are pursuing to reduce capital costs while boosting asset utilization and employee productivity is the transition to highly virtualized data centers. However, IDC finds that expectations for further boosts in IT asset use and operational efficiency often surpass the actual results for a variety of reasons. These problems can quickly overwhelm any hoped-for benefits as the scope of virtual server deployment expands.

Intel and the Intel logo are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries.

The CFO Guide to Budgeting Software

A mid-sized business needs the same financial performance control and measurement capabilities as a large corporation, but in a solution that's affordable, easy to implement and scalable. This guide simplifies the search by helping CFOs understand the 10 must-have characteristics of today's best financial performance management solutions.

Better Cash Flow Management: Recession-Proof Your Business

Cash is the lifeblood of most small to mid-sized organizations. So why rely on error-prone spreadsheets for forecasting cash flow and risk making the wrong decisions? This white paper explores what a best-in-class budgeting and planning application could offer in the spreadsheet's place.

Centage/IOMA Budgeting Survey: Benchmarks and Issues

How are other financial professionals dealing with the issues you face? This report offers you an inside peak into what the minds at over 200 financial executives are thinking and doing to impact their own bottom line.

Case Study: Audi-Volkswagen Improves Procurement Control

Audi-Volkswagen required a user-friendly, easy-to-use Business Process Management system that did not require programming skills or high levels of technical expertise in-house. This case study looks at the decision making process that Audi-Volkswagen went through, including a tender involving six companies, and describes why they choose to work with Kofax to supply a Business Process Management system.

AIIM Market Intelligence: The paper-free office, dream or reality?

In this Aiim Market Intelligence report, produced in association with Kofax, we look at the success of paper-elimination projects, where and why paper is still leaking into the business, the features and success of scanning and capture investments, forward plans for document process outsourcing (DPO), and the potential impact of mobile devices.

Webcasts »

Optimizing the world of IT for end-users: Balancing freedom and choice with security and compliance to meet business

Download this eSeminar to hear from experts Ziff Davis Enterprise, VMware and HP and learn how client-side virtualization can improve your organization's performance, while reducing the IT burden of managing and maintaining an increasingly diverse client universe.

Introduction to Virtualization

Have you been thinking about what it would take to start using virtualization? Or do you know the basics and want to find out more? No problem. This webcast is designed for anyone with little to no knowledge of virtualization technology. Attend this webcast to learn:

-A basic overview of the business value of the technology and some key capabilities that make virtualization so valuable to IT and the businesses you serve.
-The basics for creating virtual machines and the key choices that can be made along the route to deployment.

Cloud-based Contact Center: Is it Right for Your Business?

View this on demand webcast to learn if moving business communications to the cloud is right for your business. Featured industry experts DMG Consulting LLC president, Donna Fluss, Frost & Sullivan principal analyst, Michael DeSalles, and Interactive Intelligence senior vice president, Joe Staples discuss this topic and help you answer your pressing questions at the conclusion of this web event.

Must have Tools and Techniques to Optimize the Sales Pipeline and Win more Deals

In this webcast, Vantage Point Performance's Michelle Vazzana will reveal how to coach your reps to better performing pipelines.

Sales Effectiveness in the New Sales Paradigm - A Webcast Featuring the Latest Forrester Research Study

In this webcast produced by the Sales Management Association (SMA), Forrester's Scott Santucci will explore the new sales paradigm and discuss how businesses must transform their selling models into dynamic, communications-intensive systems, empowering individual sellers to define, create and deliver value to customers.

SAP Sales OnDemand Demo: Quick Overview

SAP Sales OnDemand is intuitive, leveraging social collaboration capabilities you already know how to use. It enables fast, effective team collaboration and account management to help you sell more effectively. Watch the video to see how!

Newsletter Sign-Up »

Receive the latest news test, reviews and trends on your favorite technology topics

Choose a newsletter