Oracle Corp. has elected for a new trial against SAP AG for alleged copyright infringement, rejecting a judge’s decision to reduce a $1.3 billion jury verdict against SAP to $272 million, according to a court filing.
U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton in Oakland, California, threw out the $1.3 billion verdict in September, calling it “grossly excessive,” and said SAP should get a new trial if Oracle rejects her decision to reduce the amount to $272 million.
“Oracle’s objective is to obtain clarification of the law and, if it is right about what the law is and what the evidence supports in this case, to vindicate the verdict of the jury and Oracle’s intellectual property rights as a copyright owner,” Oracle attorney Geoffrey Howard said in a filing today in federal court in Oakland.
In the trial, Oracle accused SAP’s TomorrowNow software- maintenance unit of making hundreds of thousands of illegal downloads and several thousand copies of Oracle’s software. Oracle said SAP’s aim was to avoid paying licensing fees and to steal customers.
Jim Dever, an SAP spokesman, didn’t immediately return a voice=mail message left after regular business hours seeking comment about the filing.
Oracle Seeks New Trial Against SAP After Verdict Dismissed
2/6/2012 5:00:00 AM