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Oracle touts proof SAP stole software

US business software giant Oracle is claiming that it has new proof that its German rival SAP looted its software libraries for competitive advantage.

Oracle touts proof SAP stole software
Photo: DPA

Oracle on Monday formally amended the civil suit it filed against SAP in the US District Court in San Francisco in March of 2007, enhancing its accusations with information gleaned during the case’s evidentiary phase.

“Oracle has now obtained SAP’s internal records, which confirm that SAP spent years systematically taking unauthorized support materials from Oracle’s systems,” lawyers for the California firm said in the revised complaint.

Oracle says in court documents that SAP used a customized software tool dubbed “Titan” to plunder Oracle’s website of patches, updates, fixes and other programs crafted for Oracle’s paying customers.

Titan and other tools were used to pack SAP data vaults with more than five terabytes of proprietary Oracle software, according to the revised complaint. Oracle says it found nearly eight million Oracle programs on just one SAP computer. Oracle says it has proof that SAP executives not only knew of the online theft but endorsed the tactic.

SAP dismissed the revised allegations in a curt response posted online at www.tnlawsuit.com, a website it devotes to information about the case.

“This amended complaint repeats many of the themes and allegations in Oracle’s amended complaint filed in 2007,” SAP said in the posting. “SAP will respond to this amended complaint in court.”

SAP’s response to Oracle’s most recent legal move is due in court by September 11. A trial is tentatively scheduled to begin in February of 2010.

SAP earnings beat expectations

SAP, the world’s biggest business software maker, posted on Tuesday a second quarter net profit that fell by nine percent but nonetheless exceeded analysts expectations.

SAP made a profit of €408 million ($642 million) in the three months from April to June, or 0.34 euros per share. Analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires had forecast net profit of 0.31 euros per share.

The lower result was largely a result of SAP’s acquisition last year of the French software firm Business Objects. Software revenues, a benchmark of group growth, increased by 25 percent from the second quarter of 2007 to €898 million.

Total sales gained 18 percent to €2.86 billion, while operating profit was up by 2.0 percent at €593 million, with both figures exceeding expectations.

Taking the market by surprise, SAP expressed cautious optimism for the full year, saying its operating profit margin should come out “in the high end” of a forecast range of 28.5-29.0 percent.

Last year, excluding results of Business Objects, which it bought for €4.8 billion, and allowing for foreign exchange factors, SAP posted a profit margin of 27.3 percent. On the same basis, SAP said Tuesday it expected sales to increase this year at the upper end of a range of between 24-27 percent.

BUSINESS

Elon Musk visits Tesla’s sabotage-hit German factory

Elon Musk travelled Wednesday to Tesla's factory near Berlin to lend his workers "support" after the plant was forced to halt production by a suspected arson attack on nearby power lines.

Elon Musk visits Tesla's sabotage-hit German factory

The Tesla CEO addressed thousands of employees on arrival at the site, accusing “eco-terrorists” of the sabotage as he defended his company’s green credentials.

With his son X AE A-XII in his arms, Musk said: “I am here to support you.”

The billionaire’s visit came a week after power lines supplying the electric carmaker’s only European plant were set on fire in an act of sabotage claimed by a far-left group called the Vulkangruppe (Volcano Group).

READ ALSO: Far-left group claims ‘sabotage’ on Tesla’s German factory

Musk had said then that the attack was “extremely dumb”, while the company said it would cost it several hundred million euros.

A week on, the lights have come back on at the site, but Andre Thierig, who heads the site, said on LinkedIn that it would “take a bit of time” before production is back to full speed.

Industry experts have warned that the reputational impact caused by the sabotage on the region could be more severe than the losses suffered by Tesla.

Tesla’s German plant started production in 2022 following an arduous two-year approval and construction process dogged by administrative and legal obstacles.

Tesla wants to expand the site by 170 hectares and boost production up to one million vehicles annually to feed Europe’s growing demand for electric cars and take on rivals who are shifting away from combustion engine vehicles.

But the plans have annoyed local residents, who voted against the project in a non-binding ballot last month.

After the vote, Tesla said it might have to rethink the plans. Environmental activists opposed to the expansion of the factory have recently also set up a camp in a wooded area near the plant.

READ ALSO: Why is Tesla’s expansion near Berlin so controversial?

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