Oracle files new charges against SAP

Oracle has filed new charges against SAP alleging that its TomorrowNow subsidiary stole Oracle software with the knowledge of SAP executives, according to court papers filed yesterday.

Oracle claims its revised complaint will reveal "a pattern of unlawful conduct that is different from, and even more serious than the mass downloading," which was the focus of the original case.

Oracle filed its first complaint against SAP in 2007, alleging that TomorrowNow employees posed as Oracle customers to download patches and support documentation from Oracle's website.

TomorrowNow then used the materials to provide cheap services to Oracle customers, and made attempts to switch them onto SAP's platform, Oracle alleges.

Oracle now claims that TomorrowNow workers downloaded Oracle business applications, as well as just its support materials and that SAP executives may have been complicit - something SAP has vehemently denied.

"It appears that SAP AG and SAP America knew - at executive levels - of the likely illegality of TN's business model from the time of their acquisition of TN and, for business reasons, failed to change it," said Oracle.

SAP claimed that it did not have access to Oracle materials downloaded by TomorrowNow. SAP explained that it intentionally created a business structure that maintained a firewall between TomorrowNow and SAP and that it was satisfied that SAP AG or SAP America did not access Oracle intellectual property via TomorrowNow.

The parties' next case management conference will be held on April 24.

Author: John-Paul Kamath @ www.computerweekly.com