Bangalore: HP scored a legal victory in its ongoing case with Oracle, who breached its contract when it decided to drop support for HP's Itanium servers for future versions of Oracle's database software.

The Settlement and Release Agreement entered into by HP and Oracle in September 2010 required Oracle to continue to offer its software on HP’s Itanium-based server platforms without any charge until HP discontinues the sales of its Itanium-based servers.

HP said in a statement, "Today’s proposed ruling is a tremendous win for HP and its customers. The Superior Court of the State of California, Santa Clara County, has confirmed the existence of a contract between HP and Oracle that requires Oracle to port its software products to HP’s Itanium-based servers. We expect Oracle to comply with its contractual obligation as ordered by the Court.”

The ruling has been tagged as tentative and the two parties have 15 days to appeal it before it gets entered into the court record.

So how it all started ---->