SAP to pay Oracle $120 mn in settlement

SAN FRANCISCO - German software company SAP has agreed to pay Oracle $120 million in partial settlement of a lawsuit over illegal use of Oracle software, the Financial Times reported Wednesday.

The report said that the payment was in exchange for Oracle agreeing to drop its demand for punitive damages against SAP, though it will still try to claim actual damages in the case currently in court before a judge in Oakland, California.

Oracle is claiming as much as $2 billion from SAP for the actions of a former SAP subsidiary TomorrowNow, which allegedly copied software from Oracle and used it to offer maintenance contracts to Oracle customers at much lower prices.

The case has attracted widespread attention also because Oracle wants to call Leo Apotheker, newly hired chief executive of rival HP, to testify in the case.

Apotheker was formerly chief executive of SAP, and HP claims that Oracle’s attempt to force him to testify is merely harassment because he already provided a lengthy disposition in 2008 and was never in direct control of TomorrowNow. Oracle Wednesday claimed that its representatives tried to subpoena Apotheker but that HP refused to accept the legal notice.