SAP and Oracle have reached a settlement for a long-running legal battle over software copyrights, with SAP paying Oracle $356.7 million.
The case, which involved the improper download of Oracle files, was a fierce legal battle between the two companies that are also rivals in enterprise software.
With interest, the total settlement amount reaches [subscription required] $359 million. SAP said that it had already paid $120 million to Oracle for legal fees and the dismissal of certain legal claims.
Involved in the case is the TomorrowNow unit of SAP, which the company acquired to be able to provide software support to customers of Oracle at lower rates compared to what Oracle was charging, in an attempt to persuade the customers to leave Oracle and sign up with SAP.
Oracle filed a lawsuit against SAP back in 2007 after the company noticed thousands of downloads of Oracle software that the company deemed suspicious.
SAP admitted that the company's employees were making illegal downloads of Oracle files. However, the case dragged on for seven years from the date that Oracle filed the lawsuit because the two companies could not reach an agreement on how much in damages SAP should pay Oracle.
After a widely publicized trial in 2010, wherein Oracle top brass including Safra Catz and Larry Ellison testified, a jury in California awarded $1.3 billion to Oracle. However, the figure has been decreased after succeeding judicial rulings.
Earlier in 2014, a federal appeals court told Oracle that it should choose between accepting damages of $356.7 million or file for a re-trial against its rival company.
SAP's illegal downloads of Oracle files have also led to criminal charges, but the claims will also be dropped as SAP reached an agreement to pay $20 million for their resolution.
According to Dorian Daley, the general counsel of Oracle, the company is "thrilled" about the landmark recovery that it has received, which represents a rewarding of Oracle's effort in protecting innovation and the interests of its shareholders.
SAP, in response, said that it was pleased with the decision of the courts to accept the company's arguments against the excessive claims for damages that Oracle initially sought, and that Oracle has at long last chosen to end the matter.
Oracle is a Silicon Valley company that is popular for database development, with the company now also branching out into other categories of software. It has long been a competitor to SAP, a Germany-based company that develops software for the operation of business processes such as accounting, manufacturing and inventory management.
