New trial set for June in Oracle, SAP case

A US judge on Tuesday set a June date for a new trial in a long-running copyright infringement case between US business software giant Oracle and its German rival SAP. Oracle earlier this month rejected a $272 million damages award in its lawsuit against SAP and asked for a new trial. Oracle was awarded $1.3 billion by a jury in November 2010 but US District Court Judge Phyllis Hamilton slashed the amount in September of last year to $272 million, saying the amount was "grossly excessive." Oracle asked for a new trial and Hamilton on Tuesday set a date of June 18. "We are pleased with the decision and the move toward resolving this in a prompt manner," an SAP spokesman said. According to court documents, SAP subsidiary TomorrowNow recovered and copied massive amounts of Oracle software and confidential data by posing as clients. A customized software tool dubbed "Titan" was allegedly used to plunder Oracle's website of patches, updates, fixes and other programs crafted for paying customers. SAP admitted to copyright infringement in legal stipulations that cleared the way for the jury trial regarding how much should be paid to Oracle in damages.