Business software developer SAP has agreed to pay $306m to Oracle to settle copyrights case with US based database developer.
In 2010 a Northern California judge had ruled the case in favour of Oracle and asked SAP to pay $1.3bn in damages for allegedly downloading copyrighted Oracle files.
Later, the US District Judge Phyllis Hamilton in 2011 overruled the verdict saying that either Oracle accept $272m in damages or opt for new trial against SAP to assess copyright damages.
The new agreement requires approval from the US District Judge Phyllis Hamilton.
Oracle said in a statement that, "unanimous 2010 jury verdict awarding it $1.3 billion can now be immediately taken to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals."
The company had filed suit against SAP in April 2007 after SAP’s US subsidiary TomorrowNow had secured access to Oracle’s systems by using passwords from Oracle customers.
Oracle General Counsel Dorian Daley said, "SAP, which admitted infringement before the 2010 trial and pled guilty to a number of criminal charges brought by the U.S. Department of Justice after trial, must pay us a minimum of $426 million, including attorneys’ fees."
Oracle has already received $120m in legal fees from SAP.
Bingham McCutchen attorney for Oracle said, "SAP’s web scraper alone resulted in more than 10 million copies of Oracle’s downloaded software and support materials running on SAP’s servers."
"SAP’s executive management team, including former CEO Leo Apotheker and current executives, knew about this massive theft all along and SAP had to concede infringement. Don’t underestimate how unusual the conduct underlying this suit was," McCutchen said.
The agreement could allow the two companies to avoid a new trial relating to the copyright violation case, scheduled to begin on 27th of August.
SAP spokesperson James Dever was quoted by Wall Street Journal saying that Oracle was likely to appeal, something the German company would like to avoid.
"SAP believes this case has gone on long enough," Dever said.
