Oracle plans to expand its lawsuit against SAP to include charges that its TomorrowNow subsidiary stole software applications from Oracle, and that it did so with the knowledge of SAP executives, according to court papers filed Thursday.
Oracle said it plans to file a second amended complaint against SAP and TomorrowNow that will reveal “a pattern of unlawful conduct that is different from, and even more serious than,” the conduct described in its initial complaint.
SAP’s lawyers accused Oracle of exaggerating its claims, using court filings as “press releases” and trying to prolong the case unnecessarily. “Ignoring Judge Jenkins’s admonitions, Oracle continues to submit hyperbolic argument in the guise of (court documents),” SAP’s lawyers wrote.
Oracle filed its suit against SAP a year ago, alleging that TomorrowNow employees posed as Oracle customers in order to download software patches and other support materials from an Oracle support Web site. TomorrowNow used the materials to provide cut-price services to Oracle customers, and try to switch them to SAP’s platform, Oracle said.
Based on recent depositions, Oracle now claims that TomorrowNow workers downloaded Oracle business applications, as well as just its support materials. “TomorrowNow then used the software “to service other customers, train its employees, and create fake ‘SAP’ branded fixes, updates and related documentation for distribution,” Oracle said.
It also said SAP executives may have been complicit — something SAP has vehemently denied. “It appears that SAP AG and SAP America knew — at executive levels — of the likely illegality of TN’s [TomorrowNow’s] business model from the time of their acquisition of TN and, for business reasons, failed to change it,” Oracle said. It did not name any SAP executives.