ERP leader SAP on Thursday admitted wide-ranging liability in a 3-year-old lawsuit brought by archrival Oracle Corp., saying, “Someone will have to take a major step or this case will never end.”
In fact, the case is scheduled to end with a six-week trial to begin in November. At the heart of the dispute is SAP’s now-defunct TomorrowNow unit, a provider of Oracle and SAP ERP support and maintenance services that SAP acquired in 2005. Oracle’s 2007 lawsuit alleges that SAP, via TomorrowNow, infringed on Oracle’s copyrights and committed fraud by illegally accessing Oracle software and ERP support materials. Oracle further claims that these actions caused Oracle substantial economic harm.
With this week’s filings, SAP seeks to pre-empt some of the legal wrangling that has kept both companies’ lawyers busy for the past three years.
In the trial brief, the German ERP provider states, “SAP recognizes not only that TomorrowNow made mistakes, but that [Oracle is] entitled to compensation, for which SAP will accept ultimate financial responsibility. That compensation must be based in reality and the law, however.”