i2 doubles up on patent litigation, sues Oracle

i2 is in a litigious mood these days. In 2007, i2 sued SAP for infringement of seven U.S. patents awarded to i2 between 1998 and 2006. SAP settled that case in 2008 for $83.3 million.

Now a Spectator reader calls my attention to i2's lawsuit against Oracle for allegedly infringing on 11 of its supply chain management patents.

i2's civil complaint against Oracle is on i2's website. The complaint was filed in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, the same court that i2 chose for its SAP litigation and one that is generally regarded as friendly to patent litigants.

i2's complaint against Oracle does not indicate which Oracle products i2 believes infringe on i2's intellectual property. The 11 i2 patents are listed below, and some of these appear to be the same patents that were the subject of i2's lawsuit against SAP:

• Extensible Model Network Representation System for Process Planning (two patents)
• Planning Coordination Systems for Coordinating Separate Factory Planning Systems and a Method of Operation
• System and Method for Allocating Manufactured Products to Sellers (two patents)
• Computer Security System
• System and Method for Remotely Monitoring and Managing Applications Across Multiple Domains
• Intelligent Order Promising
• Generating, Updating, and Managing Multi-Taxonomy Environments
• Value Chain Management
• Extreme Capacity Management in an Electronic Marketplace Environment

I have no idea whether i2's case against Oracle has merit. But it's not a good sign that the only area where i2 appears to be growing these days is in patent litigation. My source notes that in the first quarter i2 layoffs hit sales, marketing, and services pretty hard. Layoffs may continue in Q2 and affect the R&D group as well. It would seem, therefore, that the one area where i2 is allocating additional budget and headcount is in the legal group.

Update, May 4: Vinnie Mirchandani follows up with his view, which is pretty funny, about the state of software industry today. Must read his short post.

Related posts
i2 layoffs underway, March 2009
JDA calls off merger with i2
SAP: If you can't beat 'em, sue 'em