SAP Looking to Reduce $1.3BN in Damages Paid to Oracle
The Wall Street Journal reports that SAP, who was sentenced by a jury to pay Oracle $1.3 billion for copyright infringement last November, is trying to drastically reduce this amount. The software maker filed motions to do some damage control after now- defunct SAP unit, TomorrowNow Inc, infringed 120 Oracle copyrights and took a $1.3BN chunk of SAP’s quarterly earnings.
“An SAP spokesman said the company believes the verdict was “based on a legal theory, a so-called ‘hypothetical license’ that should not have been permitted in this case, and that the verdict was improperly excessive and based on speculation.” In court documents, SAP said the verdict was “in conflict with copyright law and founded on sheer speculation. It cannot stand.”
SAP said it would consider appealing to the verdict in recent court documents, and asked the court to chop down almost one and a half billion dollars to a mere $28 million, or no more than $408.7 million, or “order a new trial to determine damages based on lost profits and infringer’s profits.”
SAP and Oracle’s legal battle goes a long way back, and it all started when TomorrowNow, which used to provide software support and maintenance to Oracle customers, illegally downloaded Oracle software and documents. That includes the trail’s opening, Larry Ellison’s statement that the worth of the intellectual property TommorowNow stole is a whopping $4 billion and SAP’s response, which arrived in the form of a $40 million offer. The news was followed by a court ruling which awarded Oracle $1.67 billion in damages; a sum which was eventually reduced to the current $1.3BN. Oracle’s asking of $200 million in pre-judgment interests was taken down to $16 million.
By the looks of it now, the SAP-Oracle saga is kicking off a whole new chapter.
Since you’re here …
… We’d like to tell you about our mission and how you can help us fulfill it. SiliconANGLE Media Inc.’s business model is based on the intrinsic value of the content, not advertising. Unlike many online publications, we don’t have a paywall or run banner advertising, because we want to keep our journalism open, without influence or the need to chase traffic.The journalism, reporting and commentary on SiliconANGLE — along with live, unscripted video from our Silicon Valley studio and globe-trotting video teams at theCUBE — take a lot of hard work, time and money. Keeping the quality high requires the support of sponsors who are aligned with our vision of ad-free journalism content.
If you like the reporting, video interviews and other ad-free content here, please take a moment to check out a sample of the video content supported by our sponsors, tweet your support, and keep coming back to SiliconANGLE.
