The SAP logo is seen in a building on the campus of SAP Labs India in Bangalore, June 24, 2009.
Credit: Reuters/punitive ParanjpeBy Dan LevineOAKLAND, California | Thu September 8, 2011 9:20 pm EDT
OAKLAND, California (Reuters)-SAP AG decided to plead guilty of unspecified charges in a criminal case involving unauthorized access to computers maintained by software rival Oracle Corp., according to a Court filing.
Attorneys from the u.s. Department of Justice on Thursday accused former SAP's TomorrowNow unit Inc of 11 charges of unauthorized access to a computer Oracle and one count of criminal copyright infringement, according to a separate deposit.
The deposit list TomorrowNow as the only defendant in criminal proceedings. There are no individuals were accused.
Conviction in the case is scheduled for September 14, court documents show.
"We have been working with the DOJ and we reached an agreement to resolve the issue. With the agreement, which now look forward to what we think is a fair and final resolution of the matter, "SAP spokesman Jim Dever said by telephone.
He refused to give details of the plea agreement.
Eric Goldman, a professor at Santa Clara University School of Law, said that it is difficult to understand what will be held, bringing criminal charges against a defunct company.
"They can do to TomorrowNow that the market has not already done?" Goldman said. "DOJ may have felt they had to do something, because this was a high-profile example of behavior presumably criminal that they could not ignore it."
A representative of the Department of Justice refused to comment on the case.
The accusations are the latest in a long-running legal dispute involving SAP and Oracle. Last year a civil jury awarded Oracle $ 1.3 billion on allegations that SAP TomorrowNow subsidiary unfairly downloaded million Oracle files.
A judge has since reduced the award to $ $272 million.
SAP acquired TomorrowNow in 2005 after Oracle took over PeopleSoft. TomorrowNow provided maintenance and support of third party services for companies that used licensed software from Oracle.
According to the criminal charges, TomorrowNow employees repeatedly gained access to computers of Oracle in 2006 and 2007 using login credentials from other companies.
For example, in December 13, 2006, TomorrowNow employees obtained updates for real estate management software using Oracle credentials Merck & Co.
"We are very pleased that the Department of justice brought criminal charges against SAP for its widespread and systematic theft of intellectual property for Oracle SAP has repeatedly confessed," said Oracle spokesman Deborah Hellinger.
A representative of Oracle may want to resolve the court sentencing next week in a federal court of Oakland, attorneys and TomorrowNow, said in a joint Court filing.
The criminal case in the United States District Court, Northern District of California is United States v. TomorrowNow Inc., 11-COR-0642.
(Additional reporting by Peter Henderson; Edited by Gary Hill)
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