Processing .....please wait.. 
The article has been forwarded.... 
After 3 years, SAP says "sorry" to Oracle
By siliconindia
|
Wednesday, 17 November 2010, 16:40 IST
Oakland: The drama at the California court house came to an end when SAP's co-CEO, Bill McDermott apologized to rival Oracle for improperly downloading software files. "I am sorry," SAP Co-CEO Bill McDermott said in testimony on Monday as SAP kicked off its defence in the federal court. The penalty for copyright infringement by SAP is yet to be announced by the court. SAP argues it owes only tens of millions of dollars in compensation and not the billions of dollars that Oracle is seeking.
McDermott apologized after an exchange with Oracle attorney David Boies, who asked him if SAP had ever apologized for the copyright infringement. McDermott said no. Boies asked him if he would like to do it in the courtroom.
The two companies, which dominate the global market for software that helps businesses run more efficiently fell into a fist after the subsidiary company TomorrowNow that is acquired by SAP downloaded millions of files from Oracle's customer service website in order to draw the big customers away from Oracle. SAP was further accused of giving discounts on packages to attract Oracle customers and to make the switch worthwhile. "That's good competitive behaviour. It's done every day," McDermott said.
According McDermott, acquiring Tomorrow Now was never a good decision and he never agreed on this deal and did not have hopes on it. At one point, McDermott also acknowledged that SAP acquired TomorrowNow without conducting the proper due diligence.