SAP and governance software provider Security Weaver today announced that they have settled countervailing lawsuits on undisclosed terms, resolving all claims between the two companies.
Security Weaver’s self-named offering is part of the toolkit of governance, risk, and compliance software. It helps mostly large companies enforce “segregation of duties” policies — automated business rules that govern which employees can access and modify specific areas of an enterprise software system. Regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley in the United States and the EU 8th Company Law Directive in Europe demand that companies establish such internal governance. Since its acquisition of Virsa in 2006, SAP has offered a competing product.
In November 2008, SAP filed a lawsuit in the Delaware district of U.S. District Court, alleging that Security Weaver had infringed on SAP trademarks. Security Weaver subsequently filed a countersuit.
A June 2009 court status report filed jointly by the two companies describes the events leading up to the litigation. “Pursuant to a series of contracts, SAP licensed Security Weaver to develop and sell ‘add on’ applications for use with SAP’s software.” SAP subsequently certified that the Security Weaver 2.0 product met SAP specifications and maintained stability in the SAP environment.