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Oracle's Ellison jabs at HP's Lane, Apotheker; HP calls it harassment

Just a few hours removed from his last statement about Hewlett-Packard and new CEO Leo Apotheker, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison is at it again.
Written by Larry Dignan, Contributor

Update: Just a few hours removed from his last statement about Hewlett-Packard and new CEO Leo Apotheker, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison is at it again.

This time, Ellison calls HP Chairman Ray Lane a liar. Ellison said in a statement:

"HP Chairman Ray Lane has taken the position that Leo Apotheker is innocent of wrongdoing because he didn't know anything about the stealing going on at SAP while Leo was CEO. The most basic facts of the case show this to be an absurd lie. Oracle sued SAP for stealing in March of 2007. Leo became CEO of SAP in April of 2008. Leo knew all about the stealing. In fact, Leo did not stop the stealing until 7 months after he became CEO. Why so long? We'd like to know. Ray Lane and the rest of the HP Board do not want anyone to know. That's the new HP Way with Ray in charge and Leo on the run. It's time to change the HP tagline from 'Invent' to 'Steal'."

The Ellison statements are becoming a tad surreal. We're getting to the WWE stage very quickly.

HP in a statement said Ellison is harassing Apotheker and trying to interfere with his duties as CEO. The company said:

“Oracle had ample opportunity to question Leo during his sworn deposition in October 2008 and chose not to include him as a trial witness until he was named CEO of HP.   Given Leo’s limited knowledge of and role in the matter, Oracle’s last-minute effort to require him to appear live at trial is no more than an effort to harass him and interfere with his duties and responsibilities as HP’s CEO.”

Earlier:Oracle's Ellison takes aim at HP's Apotheker; TomorrowNow trial jabs escalate

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