SAP asks for TomorrowNow lawsuit limits

Developments late last week in the ongoing TomorrowNow lawsuit between have revealed SAP wants the scope of the case limited to avoid bogging down proceedings.

Although the trial date currently slated for the lawsuit is not until February 2010, discovery proceedings, taking place after initial attempts at mediation earlier this month failed, included the German software maker’s accusations about the expanding Oracle charges.

SAP stated: “Oracle has sought to make this case as large and complex as possible by expanding its claims beyond what the law allows.”

The comments followed its latest filing, which contends that only Oracle can claim copyright infringement and not other plaintiffs, including its J.D. Edwards European subsidiary, as outlined in Oracle’s third amended complaint.

Last July’s original suit alleged the now defunct, third-party Oracle support subsidiary owned by SAP had illegally downloading confidential Oracle data. Since then it has expanded its complaint to also accuse SAP executives of sanctioning the illegal access to win more customers from its software rival.

SAP last week said it had brought the motion to assure that the case focuses on the issues that are “legally relevant and truly in dispute”.

The motion also stated: “In an attempt to circumvent the Copyright Act’s standing requirements and inflate the scope of what is, at bottom, a copyright case, Plaintiffs have asserted a variety of state law claims that are pre-empted by the Copyright Act or dismissed for other reasons.”

The German firm has consistently pushed for a swift resolution to the case, after admitting to discovering some “inappropriate downloads” on the part of TomorrowNow employees. But it denies any systematic anti-competitive behaviour on SAP’s own part.

Oracle said it had no response to the latest SAP motion and referred to the web pages dedicated to detailing its official documents in the case.

A hearing by the US District court of California judge on the motion is set for 19 November.

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