The judge overseeing the U.S. Department of Justices antitrust suit against Oracle Corp. will get a lesson in enterprise resource planning technology later this month.
Both the Justice Department and Oracle are readying technical presentations to present to the court on May 21st. The presentations are a lead in to the June 7 trial brought by the Justice Department as it seeks a federal injunction to block Oracles $9.4 billion hostile takeover bid of rival PeopleSoft Inc.
During the technical discussions, each side will have two hours to present its view about the ERP software industry and the products involved.
The court ruled earlier in the proceedings that both sides should disclose an outline of their presentation by next Wednesday, and have the final versions available for the opposing side to view by May 19, according to a spokeswoman at the Justice Department.
Its not clear who the Justice Departments technical tutorial team will consist of, or if any industry experts will be brought in. A spokeswoman for Oracle said the companys team will likely consist of a combination of internal product people and outside experts.
The legal teams at the Justice Department and Oracle are also in the midst of determining their respective preliminary witness lists. The final lists will be submitted, and disclosed to the public, on June 1, according to the Justice Department.
Separately, an Alameda County, Ca. Superior Court judge scheduled a Nov. 1 trial date for PeopleSofts lawsuit against Oracle, according to news reports. PeopleSoft is suing Oracle for injunctive relief from its hostile bid.
PeopleSoft initially requested an October trial date, while Oracle was hoping to have the trial pushed off until next summer.