SAP seeks early Oracle lawsuit settlement

SAP has filed papers with the US court adjudicating over the legal action taken by Oracle that accuses it of fraudulent software theft asking that the case being settled early.

The papers, filed with the US District Court for the Northern District of California yesterday, argue that Oracle has exaggerated the claims of "corporate theft on a grand scale" it made when it launched the lawsuit in March.

Unsurprisingly, Oracle is opposing the call for the courts to order both parties into 'alternative dispute resolution' talks to settle the case without a lengthy courtroom battle, accusing SAP of trying to "make this case go away". The discovery process of gathering evidence and taking witness statements continues in the meantime.

Oracle is accusing SAP's US support subsidiary, TomorrowNow of using logins "stolen" from high profile Oracle customers including Honeywell, Merck & Co and Bear Sterns among others using the support subsidiary's Oracle support services, to fraudulently access and download information for competitive advantage from its support materials.

SAP dismissed Oracle's claim that it had discovered "a pattern of massive downloads," saying this version of events was "dramatic but inaccurate".

The German software maker already admitted to some "inappropriate downloads" early in July. But yesterday's joint filing ahead of a case management conference scheduled for 4 September gave the vendor a chance to further outline its version of events.

In the filing, SAP states: "This case, in short, is about whether TomorrowNow exceeded its customers' rights in downloading certain materials. That is not a matter of 'corporate theft on a grand scale,' as Oracle says in its complaint, but a matter of contract interpretation." It argues the lawsuit overlooks the fact that TomorrowNow was entitled to access the Oracle support site and that SAP itself did not directly access any of the disputed material.

But Oracle disputed SAP's defence, saying it had no way of knowing if SAP ever received or profited from the disputed TomorrowNow downloads, nor did it know if the downloads it had discovered were just the "tip of the iceberg". It said SAP's call for an early settlement was premature, given that it had not completed its own investigation of events.

That investigation and discovery process could take up to a year, as Oracle said it wants to take depositions from customers and mine access logs and other related computer records. It asked for a trial date of February 2009, accordingly.

"Oracle is entitled to know... what SAP knew, when SAP knew it, and how much SAP has benefited from its scheme," it said in the case management filing.

But SAP said this discovery phase could take place in "several months." It also said Oracle should be able to use TomorrowNow's records of the work done for each customer, in an attempt to head off Oracle's move to interview customers. "Depositions from the customers themselves would be of little, if any, additional benefit to justify the burden on third parties," it said.

It is likely the call for an early settlement will be reviewed during the case management conference taking place in just under two weeks' time.

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