SAP seeks Settlement in Oracle lawsuit

by Bloomberg News

SAP, who are currently being sued by Oracle over the alleged theft of program codes, has said it wants a "prompt resolution" of the case and favors a settlement, according to court filings.

SAP wants the companies to be ordered to take part in mediation with an active or retired judge "within the next few months," according to its portion of a joint statement filed with the U.S. District Court in San Francisco on Tuesday.

"Prompt resolution of this case is in the best interests of all concerned," SAP, based in Walldorf, Germany, said in the statement, which it posted on the Web site (www.tnlawsuit.com) the company set up for the lawsuit.

Oracle, based in Redwood City, California, disagreed in its portion of the court filing. SAP and Oracle are the largest competitors in the market for software that helps companies manage processes like inventory and payroll.

Their rivalry escalated when Oracle filed a lawsuit March 22 claiming workers at SAP's TomorrowNow unit in the United States hacked into a Web site and stole software codes on a "grand scale."

Oracle said SAP's interest in a settlement has "one obvious goal: to make this case go away without meaningful discovery into what it really did." SAP, the largest maker of business management software, said July 3 that it had made "inappropriate" downloads of Oracle's support documents. SAP denied it had access to Oracle's intellectual property.

"Oracle's statement of 'facts' is dramatic but inaccurate," SAP said in the court statement. "It ignores that TomorrowNow, on behalf of its customers, had a right to access Oracle's Customer Connection Web site and to download support materials for the customers." A first conference between the companies and Judge Martin Jenkins is scheduled for Sept. 4.

Henning Kagermann, SAP chief executive, said on July 3 that "all options are open," adding that he would not rule out an out-of-court settlement. No single provision SAP has made for litigation so far exceeds €10 million, or $13.6 million, he said on July 19.

Oracle said on Tuesday in its statement that "it is premature to discuss settlement until it can determine the extent of SAP's illegal taking and misuse of Oracle's intellectual property."