Oracle vs. SAP Trial Set for 2009

The judge suggests that both parties look to mediation as an alternative dispute-resolution measure before the trial. Oracle and SAP may well have their day in court… in two years. But that's only if mediation hasn't settled Oracle's suit against SAP—alleging corporate theft and illegal hacking—first.

Following a Sept. 25 case management conference in the United States District Court, Northern District of California, San Francisco Division, Judge Martin Jenkins suggested that both parties look to mediation as an alternative dispute-resolution measure. He also outlined a schedule leading up to a 2009 trial.

The pertinent dates boil down to a second case management conference on Feb. 12, 2008, and a trial commencement date of Feb. 9, 2009. The Judge has allotted four weeks for the trial and indicated Nov. 13, 2008, as the last date the court will hear motions.

But, according to Randall Kahnke, an intellectual property litigator with Faegre & Benson in Minneapolis, mediation will be the first step.

The case "will have an ADR [alternative dispute resolution] that will be required, and mediation is the most frequently used ADR method amongst sophisticated parties like Oracle and SAP," said Kahnke. "They will participate in mediation sometime before a court date that the court establishes."

SAP said in a statement Tuesday that the court recommended mediation prior to a trial.

Oracle filed suit against SAP last March alleging that SAP's third-party application support company TomorrowNow, illegally downloaded documentation from Oracle's support site. In June, Oracle amended the suit to include copyright infringement and breach-of-contract claims that included allegations of illegal hacking. In July, SAP CEO Henning Kagermann admitted that some employees at TomorrowNow had downloaded more support documentation on behalf of customers than the company had legal rights to. Kagermann said at the time that the information was never passed on to SAP, and that SAP does not have access to Oracle's intellectual property.

Oracle, in a joint conference statement filed in August in preparation for Tuesday's meeting in court, requested at least 18 months of discovery that would include 69 customer witnesses and dozens of depositions. SAP in the same statement requested the court forgo a jury trial and order the matter settled through mediation.

Tuesday's scheduling of a 2009 trial date—six months before Oracle's requested date—with the allowance of 20 witness interviews and three experts from both parties seems to indicate standard operating procedure, according to Kahnke.

"I don't think you can read too much into [the trial designation]," Kahnke said. "The judge has effectively put this case on a standard schedule for complex matters of this nature."

Kahnke said the real meat in the process—whether or not Oracle has a case—will come once discovery is completed. "If there is not a case, then SAP will bring a motion for summary judgment," he said. The motion would essentially amount to SAP requesting the court forgo a jury trial, based on a lack of evidence on Oracle's part, and have the matter settled by Judge Jenkins.

Whether Oracle's case will settle in mediation or wend its way through a jury trial remains to be seen. Oracle, known for its mud-slinging ways, is "looking to get mileage out of what has occurred" with SAP, according to Kahnke. But, he added, Oracle has to be careful it doesn't push the matter too far.

"Oracle has to be careful not to overplay this or SAP will say, at some point, 'Did you contribute to this—were you properly monitoring what TomorrowNow was doing? Were you properly monitoring your IP?'" said Kahnke. "Oracle has to be careful [this suit] doesn't come back to bite them."

Author: Renee Boucher Ferguson @ eWeek.com

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Don't get stuck with AJAX, Oracle warns

JSF is so much better

Oracle this week told developers to be wary of the hype surrounding AJAX frameworks and encouraged large organizations to back JavaServer Faces (JSF) to "Web 2.0-enable" applications.

Ted Farrell, the exec setting technical and strategic direction of Oracle's own development tools, told The Register that most AJAX frameworks focus on the interface and pay lip service to the most challenging part - integration with back-end servers.

Adopting AJAX-based rich interfaces and internet-based applications at this stage could leave their organizations stranded in the future, lacking either skills or an upgrade path to continue working, he argues.

"No one is concerned about the importance of back end technology because [they say] we have web services - you can expose everything as a web service," according to Farrell, speaking at this week's AJAXWorld in Santa Clara, California. Farrell is Oracle's chief architect and vice president of tools and middleware.

"But look at the user interface space... you get UI technologies like Swing, Java, DHTML or JavaScript only to find out technologies and capabilities change and have nowhere to go."

All dressed up and nowhere to go

Farrell warned organizations that take a strategic decision to adopt AJAX, or the other emerging rich internet and client architectures such as Silverlight and Apollo from Microsoft and Adobe Systems, risked getting left behind as these technologies provide no standard way to interoperate with back end servers.

He claimed companies are in danger of repeating past mistakes, of committing to a user interface and then becoming stuck if, or when, things don't work out.

According to Farrell, JSF already delivers the ability to build a rich Web 2.0-style interface while abstracting the developer from integration with the back end. "JSF separates the object model from rendering, you get events back and a render kit decides how the event is rendered," he said.

"We [Oracle] have developers combining Oracle Forms, Siebel and PeopleSoft. Trying to get them to JSF which is declarative and has the tooling is easier than have them learn DHTML... if you have that higher bar you will loose a lot of developers."

AJAX certainly has its challenges, and Farrell is correct to highlight how the Web 2.0 crowd has quickly dismissed integration with back-end servers as a web services thing. Also, JSF presents an interface framework with some kind of critical mass while - at the last count - there existed 134 frameworks serving AJAX, each with its own strengths and approaches.

Java this and Java that

Oracle has made a strategic decision to bet on JSF. The company was quick to to seize on JSF, hatched by Sun Microsystems several years ago and supported by the Java Community Process (JCP). Oracle's JDeveloper IDE has supported JSF since January 2006.

While JDeveloper 11g, expected next year, will feature an AJAX and Flash render kit, Oracle's strategy is to add Web 2.0 capabilities - such as wiki, presence or RSS feed - to its JSF implementation as components. Oracle currently offers more than 100 JSF components, many under open source. Oracle plans to open source its AJAX components next year.

Oracle is releasing the code as it places increased importance on features synonymous with Web 2.0 in its applications. Fusion, Oracle's upcoming customer relationship management (CRM) software, will feature the ability to mash-up maps with contact and sales information, and combine information on individuals' presence and voice over IP (VoIP).

The move is calculated to cut down the nsteps currently needed to find or combine information held in separate systems.

Author: Gavin Clarke

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Oracle Donates $1 Million to JA Worldwide

JA Worldwide (Junior Achievement) announced today that Oracle has awarded a $1 million Oracle Commitment Grant in support of the organization's innovative JA Titan(TM), a web-based business competition for teens. The gift, which will be distributed over the next two years, will expand JA Titan beyond the U.S. and Canada to 10 additional countries around the world.

JA Titan is an innovative online high school-level program that helps students act as virtual CEOs, exercising critical economic and management decisions using an interactive web-based simulation of companies competing in an imaginary global marketplace. JA Titan gives participants firsthand experience in the challenges that come with operating a successful global
enterprise.

"Through Oracle's considerable support, JA Titan will allow American high school students to work with, learn from, and interact with high school students in Europe, Asia, Latin America and other parts of the world," said Gerald M. Czarnecki, president and chief executive officer of
JA Worldwide. "This is going to bring the global economy to life for young people in an exciting and powerful way. It will not only make our global economy more tangible for these students, but it will leave them better prepared to succeed in that economy when they are adults."

Oracle's grant will allow JA Worldwide to translate JA Titan into 10 languages and expand to 10 new countries. Participating countries will be determined in the coming months.

"Oracle is committed to advancing education in innovative ways to ensure that students have access to vital technology skills and training necessary for success in today's global economy," said Rosalie Gann, Director, Oracle Global Corporate Citizenship. "We are excited to expand
our partnership with JA to promote global learning to positively impact the lives of students and communities worldwide."

Source: www.prnewswire.com

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