SAP Admits to 'Inappropriate' Downloading of Oracle Code 149
netbuzz writes "SAP's CEO Henning Kagermann uses the undoubtedly lawyered term 'inappropriate download' to describe the company's questionable actions. Henning blames a rogue business unit, but there can be no mistaking the fact that Oracle caught SAP with its hand in the IP jar on this one. The legal proceedings that will follow should prove interesting. 'The admission hurts SAP's reputation in the battle with Larry Ellison's Oracle in the $56 billion market for software that manages tasks such as payroll. The rivalry between SAP and Oracle escalated when Oracle filed its March 22 lawsuit claiming SAP workers hacked into a Web site and stole software codes on a grand scale.'"
Honeypot? (Score:3, Interesting)
Confused (Score:3, Interesting)
Most inappropriate use of the word "inappropriate" (Score:3, Interesting)
This is illegal and perhaps fradulent (ie they claimed they were customers seeking service). But what gets me the most about this is how blisteringly stupid it is. "There's no way they could know it's us! Well, there's no way, apart from the webserver logs, that they could know it's us!".
From the article: So not only are they picking a legal fight with Oracle, pissing of the DOJ, and destroying their reputation, but they've basically shown they're not above pretending to be their customers. I bet the SAP CEO is turfed before the end of the next quarter.
Re:Honeypot? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Can I get a consensus opinion? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Not Source Code (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Most inappropriate use of the word "inappropria (Score:3, Interesting)
FTA (emphasis mine): That is most certainly the case.
And now for the snark. Wtf? PR special forces? What kind of training does that require? Going seven days without using buzzspeak or powerpoint? Writing press releases and giving presentations under hostile fire?
And, most importantly, what color are their berets?
Re:Codes plural? (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:Most inappropriate use of the word "inappropria (Score:3, Interesting)
I presume somewhere in the contract between Oracle and Merck there is something which says "only your employess may use this account", and there is probably a notice on the website which states that you can only access the account with your own login. The whole setup would be used to prevent other companies from supporting Oracle installations, I guess.
It's all about preventing competition and replacing innovation with lawsuits, in my opinion.
Re:Can I get a consensus opinion? (Score:3, Interesting)
Tell that to the Rosenbergs... [wikipedia.org]
Keep in mind that this wasn't a customer... (Score:1, Interesting)
In essence, this was a competitor, stealing a company's information (IP) in order to resell it back to Oracle customers as their own brand of support, and at a lower rate. Regardless of your stance on Oracle, it's just a dirty practice, and something that SAP deserves to get hell over.
If you haven't done it yet, check out the legal filing.. it's pretty decent read.