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Ellison slated for Monday testimony as Oracle-SAP trial continues

Roundup: Larry Ellison won't testify until Monday, Oracle stays on the hunt for Apotheker, NYT says the two sides have reached a partial settlement and former Oracle President Charles Phillips testifies that Oracle would have asked for $5 billion in licensing fees.
Written by Sam Diaz, Inactive

The spicy part of the Oracle-SAP legal battle - the testimony of Oracle's colorful and outspoken CEO Larry Ellison - will have to wait until Monday, according to reports. Ellison was previously expected to take the stand on Friday but that's no longer the case.

Of course, this trial has been more about theatrics than it has been about stealing technology so Ellison should pretty much be the main event.

The two sides have been bickering about the damages that Oracle is due - Oracle says "billions" while SAP says "tens of millions".  At the same time, Oracle has been trying to serve new HP CEO Leo Apotheker, who is SAP's former CEO, with a subpoena to testify. Oracle has accused HP of keeping Apotheker out of the country so that he cannot be served.

HP argues that Oracle is simply looking to harass Apotheker, who has been deposed for this case already, noting that Apotheker wasn't included as a live trial witness until he was named HP's CEO. Oracle CEO Larry Ellison would surely love to make HP look silly for hiring Apotheker. Ellison immediately hired former HP CEO Mark Hurd and publicly mocked the HP board for forcing Hurd to resign over a small scandal involving an independent contractor.

Theatrics.

Separately, the New York Times, citing unnamed sources, reported last night that Oracle and SAP have actually reached a partial settlement of $120 million but that the trial would continue. At Oracle's request, the agreement was sealed and cannot be discussed.

The source, however, told the NYT that, as part of the agreement, Oracle would no longer seek punitive damages from SAP but Oracle would still be able to seek actual damages.

Finally, Ex-Oracle President Charles Phillips testified today at the trial that the company would have asked for at least $5 billion in licensing feeds from SAP for access to the software. From a Bloomberg report:

Phillips said if Oracle were negotiating with SAP over fees, the company would seek up to $5 billion for software from companies it had acquired whose customers SAP unit TomorrowNow would be interested in obtaining. “We compete fiercely but we don’t take each other’s software,” Phillips said.

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