Oracle says SAP knew of software theft

Software-maker Oracle Corp. expanded allegations made in its copyright-infringement lawsuit against competitor SAP AG over allegedly stolen program codes.

SAP, based in Germany, and Oracle, of Redwood City, Calif., make software that helps companies manage operations such as payroll and accounting. SAP America Inc. is based in Newtown Square.

Oracle sued SAP in March 2007, contending workers at an SAP unit in the United States hacked into a Web site and stole Oracle's copyrighted software codes and support documents.

In a new filing yesterday in federal court in San Francisco, Oracle alleges that SAP knew, even before it bought TomorrowNow Inc. in 2005, that the company was illegally accessing software from PeopleSoft Inc., which Oracle acquired. SAP's executives were warned that Oracle might sue, decided to go ahead with the acquisition anyway, and did not stop the illegal downloads, the complaint said.

"In addition to the illegal downloads, SAP - with the knowledge of SAP's executive board of directors - made thousands of copies of Oracle's underlying software applications on its computer systems," Oracle said in its amended complaint.

The new filing "repeats many of the themes and allegations in Oracle's amended complaint filed in 2007," an SAP spokesman said in an e-mailed statement.

SAP said last year that it had made "inappropriate" downloads of Oracle's support documents. SAP denied it had access to Oracle's intellectual property and said TomorrowNow had a right to make use of Oracle's Customer Connection site and download support materials on behalf of its customers.