SAP pays $20m fine in Oracle download case

GERMAN SOFTWARE OUTFIT SAP has agreed to pay $20m to make a criminal investigation into its alleged illegal downloads from rival vendor Oracle go away.

SAP had been accused of illegally downloading files from Oracle through its now defunct Tomorrownow unit. In a separate case it had been ordered to pay Oracle $1.3bn by a civil jury on the same allegations. Since then a judge has reduced the amount to $272m, though Oracle is requesting permission to appeal that reduction.

Last week prosecutors for the US Department of Justice (DoJ) charged SAP with 12 criminal counts in connection with alleged illegal downloads of Oracle software files and SAP decided to settle. The court documents didn't show the fine, however Reuters' source claims that SAP has agreed to pay $20m.

Oracle was pleased with the DoJ's involvement in the case, with an Oracle spokeswoman having said, "We are very pleased that the Department of Justice brought criminal charges against SAP for their widespread and systematic theft of Oracle's intellectual property to which SAP has repeatedly confessed."

SAP's decision to settle with the DoJ does not affect the far larger payout it is looking at in the civil case. SAP accepted liability and said it was "willing to fairly compensate Oracle".

Now all Oracle and SAP have to do is agree on the definition of fair compensation. µ