Editing Oracle Corporation (section)

====Oracle and SAP====
From 1988, Oracle Corporation and the German company [[SAP AG]] had a decade-long history of cooperation, beginning with the integration of SAP's [[SAP R/3|R/3]] enterprise application suite with Oracle's relational database products. Despite the SAP partnership with Microsoft, and the increasing integration of SAP applications with Microsoft products (such as [[Microsoft SQL Server]], a competitor to Oracle Database), Oracle and SAP continue their cooperation. According to Oracle Corporation, the majority of SAP's customers use Oracle databases.<ref>{{cite web |title=Oracle – the No.1 Database for Deploying SAP Applications |url=http://www.oracle.com/newsletters/sap/index.html |access-date=November 11, 2008 |publisher=Oracle Corporation |quote=Two thirds of SAP customers around the world, in every industry, choose to run their applications on Oracle databases.}}</ref>

In 2004, Oracle began to increase its interest in the enterprise-applications market (in 1989, Oracle had already released Oracle Financials). A series of acquisitions by Oracle Corporation began, most notably with those of [[PeopleSoft]], [[Siebel Systems]] and [[Hyperion Solutions|Hyperion]].

SAP recognized that Oracle had started to become a competitor in a markets where SAP had the [[leadership]], and saw an opportunity to lure in customers from those companies that Oracle Corporation had acquired. SAP would offer those customers special discounts on the licenses for its enterprise applications.

Oracle Corporation would resort to a similar strategy, by advising SAP customers to get "OFF SAP" (a play on the words of the [[acronym]] for its middleware platform "Oracle Fusion for SAP"),<ref>{{Cite press release |title=Oracle Helping SAP Customers to get 'OFF SAP' |date=June 14, 2005 |publisher=Oracle Corporation |url=http://www.oracle.com/corporate/press/2005_jun/sap.html}}</ref> and also by providing special discounts on licenses and services to SAP customers who chose Oracle Corporation products.

{{As of|2008|alt=Currently}} Oracle and SAP (the latter through its recently acquired subsidiary [[TomorrowNow]]) compete in the third-party enterprise software maintenance and support market. On March 22, 2007, Oracle filed a lawsuit against SAP. In [[Oracle Corporation v. SAP AG]] Oracle alleged that TomorrowNow, which provides discount support for legacy Oracle product lines, used the accounts of former Oracle customers to systematically download patches and support documents from Oracle's website and to appropriate them for SAP's use.<ref>{{cite web |date=July 3, 2007 |title=Oracle sues SAP |url=http://www.oracle.com/sapsuit |publisher=Oracle Corporation}}</ref> Some analysts have suggested the suit could form part of a strategy by Oracle Corporation to decrease competition with SAP in the market for third-party enterprise software maintenance and support.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Gohring |first1=Nancy |last2=Montalbano |first2=Elizabeth |title=Maintenance Contracts at Heart of Oracle, SAP Dispute |url=http://www.cio.in/news/viewArticle/ARTICLEID=3017 |journal=CIO India |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080519024115/http://www.cio.in/news/viewArticle/ARTICLEID=3017 |archive-date=May 19, 2008 |access-date=June 9, 2008}}

[http://blogs.zdnet.com/Greenbaum/?p=105 The lawsuit As barometer: SAP finally scores big with TomorrowNow ] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070327081752/http://blogs.zdnet.com/Greenbaum/?p=105 |date=March 27, 2007 }} Joshua Greenbaum, March 22, 2007, ZDNet</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=steve.curtis@supportrevolution.com |date=2020-09-23 |title=Oracle & SAP are waging a secret war against third-party support |url=https://www.supportrevolution.com/oracle-sap-secret-support-war/ |access-date=2023-06-08 |website=Support Revolution |language=en-GB}}</ref>

On July 3, 2007, SAP admitted that TomorrowNow employees had made "inappropriate downloads" from the Oracle support website. However, it claims that SAP personnel and SAP customers had no access to Oracle intellectual property via TomorrowNow. SAP's CEO [[Henning Kagermann]] stated that "Even a single inappropriate download is unacceptable from my perspective. We regret very much that this occurred." Additionally, SAP announced that it had "instituted changes" in TomorrowNow's operational oversight.<ref>{{Cite press release |title=SAP Responds to Oracle Complaint |date=July 3, 2007 |publisher=SAP |url=http://www.tnlawsuit.com/uploads/pdf/pressrelease/pressrelease_ResponsetoOracleComplaint.pdf |access-date=September 2, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090326201734/http://www.tnlawsuit.com/uploads/pdf/pressrelease/pressrelease_ResponsetoOracleComplaint.pdf |archive-date=March 26, 2009}}</ref>

On November 23, 2010, a [[United States District Court for the Northern District of California|U.S. district court]] jury in [[Oakland, California]], found that SAP AG must pay Oracle Corp $1.3&nbsp;billion for copyright infringement, awarding damages that could be the largest-ever for copyright infringement. While admitting liability, SAP estimated the damages at no more than $40&nbsp;million, while Oracle claimed that they are at least $1.65&nbsp;billion. The awarded amount is one of the 10 or 20 largest jury verdicts in U.S. legal history. SAP said they were disappointed by the verdict and might appeal.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Levine |first=Dan |date=November 23, 2010 |title=SAP to pay Oracle $1.3&nbsp;billion in landmark decision |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6AL4IN20101124 |access-date=November 23, 2010}}</ref> On September 1, 2011, a federal judge overturned the judgment and offered a reduced amount or a new trial, calling Oracle's original award "grossly" excessive.<ref>{{cite web |date=September 1, 2011 |title=Judge overturns Oracle's $1.3B award against SAP |url=http://www.itworld.com/it-managementstrategy/199445/bulletin-judge-overturns-oracles-13b-award-against-sap |access-date=September 5, 2011 |website=[[ITworld]]}}</ref> Oracle chose a new trial.

On August 3, 2012, SAP and Oracle agreed on a judgment for $306 million in damages, pending approval from the U.S. district court judge, "to save time and expense of [a] new trial". After the accord has been approved, Oracle can ask a federal appeals court to reinstate the earlier jury verdict. In addition to the damages payment, SAP has already paid Oracle $120 million for its legal fees.<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 3, 2012 |title=Oracle Says SAP to Pay $306 Million in Copyright Deal |work=Bloomberg BusinessWeek |url=http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-08-02/oracle-says-sap-to-pay-306-million-in-copyright-deal |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120803200435/http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-08-02/oracle-says-sap-to-pay-306-million-in-copyright-deal |archive-date=August 3, 2012 |access-date=August 6, 2012}}</ref>