Close
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Applications
    • Applications
    • Database
    • Networking
    • Storage

    SAP Admits Software Piracy for the Court Record

    By
    Chris Preimesberger
    -
    October 28, 2010
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      German database maker SAP AG admitted in a court brief to Judge Phyllis J. Hamilton of the U.S. District Court in Oakland, Calif., dated Oct. 28, that it won’t contest Oracle’s claim that it is culpable for copyright infringement committed several years ago by its now-defunct TomorrowNow unit.
      The fact that SAP has admitted knowing about the software thefts isn’t news in itself, because then-CEO Henning Kagermann admitted to Oracle he knew about the TomorrowNow transgressions in 2007.
      However, this latest statement, which is available for viewing on SAP’s lawsuit Website (PDF format), represents the first time SAP has taken corporate responsibility for the piracy. That is now entered into evidence for the upcoming trial to decide how much in damages SAP will have to pay Oracle.
      The admission also could lessen the likelihood that SAP executives will have to testify in court.
      In another court filing Oct. 28, Oracle received a letter from SAP’s lawyers late Oct. 27 explaining that SAP has elected “not to contest the claim for contributory infringement,” and that the German company will ask Judge Hamilton to keep the trial as brief as possible. The shorter the court action, the less negative publicity for SAP.
      Oracle is seeking $2.15 billion in damages. SAP believes the fine should be in the tens of millions. The jury in the trial will hear testimony from both sides before deciding the final amount.
      Jury selection begins Nov. 1; the hearings may span several weeks.
      Oracle spokeswoman Deborah Hellinger issued this response to the SAP brief on Oct. 28:
      “SAP management has insisted for three and a half years of litigation that it knew nothing about SAP’s own massive theft of Oracle’s intellectual property. Today, SAP has finally confessed it knew about the theft all along. The evidence at trial will show that the SAP Board of Directors valued Oracle’s copyrighted software so highly, they were willing to steal it rather than compete fairly.”
      SAP, however, has insisted until now that TomorrowNow acted on its own volition, that the corporation did not know about or condone the IP piracy for three years, and that SAP stopped the pirating as soon as it found out about it.
      Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, who wants to have former SAP CEO and incoming Hewlett-Packard CEO Leo Apotheker testify in the case, has said-among other things-that he finds this hard to believe.
      Four years ago, Texas-based TomorrowNow, which did customer support for SAP, was caught stealing intellectual property by gaining unauthorized access to a customer-support Oracle Website and copying thousands of pages of software documentation and support software.
      Oracle claimed that more than 8 million instances of its enterprise support software were stolen, stored on SAP’s servers and used without its permission. It also charged that SAP/TomorrowNow deployed automated bots that used Oracle’s own software to move customers from PeopleSoft (owned by Oracle) over to SAP.
      Enterprise support software amounts to about half of Oracle’s revenue, so this was no minor infraction.

      Chris Preimesberger
      https://www.eweek.com/author/cpreimesberger/
      Chris J. Preimesberger is Editor Emeritus of eWEEK. In his 16 years and more than 5,000 articles at eWEEK, he distinguished himself in reporting and analysis of the business use of new-gen IT in a variety of sectors, including cloud computing, data center systems, storage, edge systems, security and others. In February 2017 and September 2018, Chris was named among the 250 most influential business journalists in the world (https://richtopia.com/inspirational-people/top-250-business-journalists/) by Richtopia, a UK research firm that used analytics to compile the ranking. He has won several national and regional awards for his work, including a 2011 Folio Award for a profile (https://www.eweek.com/cloud/marc-benioff-trend-seer-and-business-socialist/) of Salesforce founder/CEO Marc Benioff--the only time he has entered the competition. Previously, Chris was a founding editor of both IT Manager's Journal and DevX.com and was managing editor of Software Development magazine. He has been a stringer for the Associated Press since 1983 and resides in Silicon Valley.

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Big Data and Analytics

      Alteryx’s Suresh Vittal on the Democratization of...

      James Maguire - May 31, 2022 0
      I spoke with Suresh Vittal, Chief Product Officer at Alteryx, about the industry mega-shift toward making data analytics tools accessible to a company’s complete...
      Read more
      Cybersecurity

      Visa’s Michael Jabbara on Cybersecurity and Digital...

      James Maguire - May 17, 2022 0
      I spoke with Michael Jabbara, VP and Global Head of Fraud Services at Visa, about the cybersecurity technology used to ensure the safe transfer...
      Read more
      Big Data and Analytics

      GoodData CEO Roman Stanek on Business Intelligence...

      James Maguire - May 4, 2022 0
      I spoke with Roman Stanek, CEO of GoodData, about business intelligence, data as a service, and the frustration that many executives have with data...
      Read more
      Applications

      Cisco’s Thimaya Subaiya on Customer Experience in...

      James Maguire - May 10, 2022 0
      I spoke with Thimaya Subaiya, SVP and GM of Global Customer Experience at Cisco, about the factors that create good customer experience – and...
      Read more
      Cloud

      Yotascale CEO Asim Razzaq on Controlling Multicloud...

      James Maguire - May 5, 2022 0
      Asim Razzaq, CEO of Yotascale, provides guidance on understanding—and containing—the complex cost structure of multicloud computing. Among the topics we covered:  As you survey the...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2021 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×