Oracle, DOJ file antitrust legal briefs

The Justice Department is suing Oracle to block the software company's proposed hostile takeover of rival PeopleSoft. The government says the $7.7 billion merger would raise prices for software used by large companies and government entities to streamline accounting and human resources tasks. Oracle counters that the merger will help it survive mounting competition from IBM, Microsoft and SAP in a retrenching market.

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Each side rested its case last week in the testimony phase of the trial, which lasted four weeks. Oracle and the Justice Department are schedule to reconvene in U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker's court on July 20 for final arguments. Walker's verdict is expected in August or September.

The post-trial briefs, which each party filed with the court as scheduled on Thursday and Friday, are routine and a virtual rehash of earlier testimony, according to an attorney who is closely following the case for investors. The proposed-findings-of-fact and conclusions-of-law documents frame each side's evidence and arguments within antitrust legal principles and precedents.

More documents will come Monday, when the Justice Department and Oracle are required to submit additional post-trial paperwork. These trial briefs will match up the facts of the case with antitrust law and should sprinkle witness testimony throughout the documents.

"There'll be more meat on these documents on Monday," the investor attorney said.