SAP filed its response to Oracle's complaint last night, admitting that its TomorrowNow subsidiary engaged in some inappropriate downloads of Oracle intellectual property.
SAP reasserts the rights of its TN unit to download materials on behalf of Oracle customers who have the rights to those materials. It points out that "Oracle’s complaint does not challenge the basic propriety of third party support, nor do its factual allegations support the inflammatory statements" of Oracle's complaint.
At the same time, SAP claimed that the Oracle materials did not leave TN's internal systems, which are separate from the rest of SAP's network. SAP's response says,
Upon acquiring TN, SAP AG and SAP America put in place extensive policies to assure that no allegedly confidential material of Oracle obtained by TN on behalf of its customers would reach SAP AG or SAP America. Defendants are unaware of any breach of these policies, and believe that none has occurred.
It continues,
Oracle’s allegation that TN’s downloading conduct was “corporate theft” or involved SAP AG or SAP America is simply untrue.
SAP also announced that it is installing a new head over its TN unit. Former SAP Americas COO Mark White will now oversee TN, with founder and CEO Andrew Nelson reporting to White.
I think SAP is smart to admit any wrongdoing at this point. Any such activities would eventually be exposed anyway during Oracle's discovery process, leading to a drip by drip release of negative information about SAP. At this point, the issue would is to what extent TN or SAP benefited from the downloaded materials and what damages should be awarded.
SAP takes its turn at throwing punches at Oracle:
Oracle professes surprise and confusion about how TN can provide services more cost-effectively than Oracle. The answer is simple – TN does not force its service customers to pay artificially inflated prices for service to fund Oracle’s future acquisition and integration of products that customers do not want or need.
Of course, SAP does not mention that its own maintenance fees for customers of SAP software are pretty much in line with Oracle's. So, SAP should be careful about continuing this line of reasoning.
More seriously, in my opinion, SAP indicated that the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating SAP and TN. I
speculated earlier that this lawsuit could lead to criminal charges against SAP, TN, or individuals implicated in the illicit activities.
SAP's response to Oracle's complaint is
available here. SAP has also issued a
press release on this matter.
Related postsOracle now charges SAP with copyright violationLatest on the Oracle/SAP lawsuitOracle/SAP lawsuit: view from Rimini StreetSAP subject to criminal charges?Oracle sues SAP and its TomorrowNow unit
Send tips, rumors, gossip, and feedback to Frank Scavo at
. I'm especially interested in hearing about best practices, lessons learned, horror stories, and case studies of success or failure.
