February 14th, 2008
SAP-Oracle case headed to mediation
Oracle’s lawsuit against SAP over trade secret theft is headed toward mediation.
On Feb. 12, a judge in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled that the case should be scheduled for mediation at a yet-to-be-determined date.
Mediation would mean that we won’t get to hear all the testimony in a jury trial and chatter about contracts and other key documents. I’m a bit disappointed, but for Oracle and SAP it’s best this spat gets settled behind closed doors.
As indicated earlier, it’s highly doubtful these two rivals will let this case go to trial. The dirty laundry that could be aired is simply too great. As background, Oracle sued SAP March 22 and alleged corporate espionage. SAP responded on July 3, admitted illegal downloading of Oracle property, but shot down most of Oracle’s claims.
An SAP spokeswoman said: “We think this direction is appropriate as it makes sense for the parties to seek resolution.” SAP had been advocating for mediation.
Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and Editorial Director of ZDNet sister site TechRepublic. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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