Tuesday, July 29, 2008, 7/29/2008 04:50:00 PM

Oracle v. SAP Trade Secrets Case Getting Messier

By Todd
We've blogged this case before: http://wombletradesecrets.blogspot.com/2007/09/oracle-v-sap-trade-secrets-case-could.html#links.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Oracle is attempting to file an amended complaint that alleges SAP Board members were well aware a company they were acquiring was misappropriating Oracle's trade secrets - but did nothing to stop the practice.

In one document cited in Oracle's amended complaint, SAP executives were warned that TomorrowNow's access to the software "is very likely to be challenged by Oracle" and that TomorrowNow's operating practices "may be a serious liability." In another, a member of SAP's due-diligence team warned an executive-board member that it was "very likely that TomorrowNow is using [Oracle's] software outside the contractual rights granted to them."

The amended complaint charges that SAP's senior leadership developed a plan, dubbed "Project Blue," to discontinue TomorrowNow's alleged illegal activity, but that the plan was never enacted.

Instead, SAP continued to let TomorrowNow download its rival's trade secrets, the Oracle complaint alleges. The court filing alleges that TomorrowNow used customized software to automatically find and download information from Oracle and that TomorrowNow had 20 computers dedicated to storing this information. One of these computers contained eight million Oracle software and support documents, the complaint alleges.
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