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Column: Losing count of the Oracle court cases

Microscope contributor
I wonder if, like me, you have lost count of the high profile court cases Oracle is embroiled in. The case with Google concerning Java and Android that is currently hogging the headlines is easy to remember and there's also the one with HP over Itanium which also surfaced recently. And then there's the SAP case, writes Billy MacInnes.

That one concerns the German software giant's TomorrowNow division which was found guilty of illegally downloading Oracle software and support data. Originally, Oracle was awarded a massive $1.3bn in damages by a jury in November 2010 but this has since been knocked down to $272m by SAP.

Unsurprisingly, this wide variation in figures has not gone down well with Oracle which has rejected the $272m figure. It is now looking for $777m at the court case which resumes next month. According to Oracle, this figure has been arrived at by looking at lost profits and benefits to SAP for using the code as well as hypothetical licence damages.

Anyway, I was wondering if I might suggest a figure that could prove more amenable to both sides and their lawyers. It's pretty much a question of splitting the difference and going for something close to half the original damages figure. And it has the added benefit of fitting the pattern in Oracle's revised figure because, like 777, it is made up of the same number repeated three times. How about $666m, guys?


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