Industry insiders weigh in on the lawsuit, its merit, and its possible effects on the software maker's image and reputationGerman corporate software giant SAP has always portrayed itself as more credible and trustworthy than its archrival, Oracle. That's why the charges leveled in a lawsuit filed by Oracle on Mar. 22 against SAP are especially shocking.
In the 43-page suit, Oracle (ORCL) alleges that SAP (SAP) committed "corporate theft on a grand scale" by downloading thousands of copyrighted software patches and other confidential support materials from Oracle servers (see BusinessWeek.com, 3/23/07, "Oracle Files Suit Against SAP").
According to the filing, employees of SAP's TomorrowNow unit, posing as Oracle customers, logged into the Oracle support network and copied intellectual property so that SAP could compete more aggressively against Oracle. TomorrowNow provides after-sales support for older software packages from providers PeopleSoft, J.D. Edwards, and Siebel, all of which have been acquired by Oracle and whose applications are being phased out.
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