It may go down in history as one of the most elaborate defenses of trade secret theft. Oracle (ORCL) has accused German rival SAP (SAP) of systematically downloading sensitive documents to get a "leg up" on the competition.
After denying the allegations for a time, SAP has now said that at least some of the downloads did take place, but, it mounted a three-part defense:
1. An SAP operating company, TomorrowNow, and not SAP itself downloaded and had access to the documents. The parent company never saw them.
2. Oracle should have called SAP when its discovered the problem. Of course, SAP would have immediately made sure that the practice ended.
3. The material which was downloaded was of a nature that Oracle could not have been harmed by a unit of SAP having access to it.
While the defense may have some chance of working, it is extremely odd that it comes so late. Oracle first filed a suit over the matter on March 22. The idea that it took over three months for SAP to find all of this out is thin, at best.
The CEO of SAP is taking a real chance by endorsing the story. If the court finds that defense is inaccurate, even in some of its details, SAP Chief Executive Officer Henning Kagermann could find himself looking for a new job. Perhaps as an actor.
Douglas A. McIntyre can be reached at [email protected].
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