Damages Expert to SAP: You Owe Me $14 Million and Oracle Four Times That
Oracle CEO Larry Ellison says SAP owes it $4 billion in damages for infringing its IP. Paul Meyer, its damages expert, puts that sum at about $1.7 billion.
But SAP damages expert Stephen Clarke argues it shouldn’t be more than $40.6 million.
Which is ironic considering SAP paid Clarke’s firm $14 million in fees to determine how much the company owed Oracle for infringing its IP. That’s more than 25 percent of the sum Clarke ultimately settled on (and $10 million more than the fees Oracle’s expert collected for his testimony).
But, according to Clarke, calculating damages accurately requires a certain detached objectivity and evidently it comes at a price. “There’s no anger or punishment allowed,” Clarke said Tuesday. “What happened as a result of that infringement is what matters. The only way to do that is focus on the actual number of contracts at issue here.”
And that number is just 358, well shy of the “thousands” of contracts SAP hoped to win away from Oracle.
Too bad there’s no dollar value on SAP co-CEO Bill McDermott’s apology to Oracle yesterday.
Oracle’s cross-examination of Clarke is expected to continue into Thursday, after which SAP will likely show a bit of testimonial footage and rest its case. Presumably that will be followed by some rebuttal witnesses from Oracle on Friday and closing arguments sometime the following week.
PREVIOUSLY:
- Oracle, SAP and the Apotheker Sideshow
- Better Late: SAP Co-CEO Apologizes for Oracle IP Theft
- SAP Co-CEO Expected to Testify in Oracle Trial Today
- HP to Oracle: Leave Léo Alone
- Oracle Still Hoping to Snag HP’s Apotheker for SAP Trial
- HP CEO to Oracle: Here’s Looking at You, Kid–Suntory Time!
- Ellison to Self: Damn, Damn. I Knew I Should Have Said $4.5 Billion
- SAP Attorney: Board Knew TomorrowNow Was Infringing at Time of Acquisition
- Oracle Co-President on SAP’s Damages Offer: “It’s Crazy”
- Oracle Enlists Process Servers, Not PIs, to Find HP CEO
- Oracle-SAP Trial: Ellison Swaps Katana for Poison Darts
- Objection: Mr. Ellison Is Referring to the Defendant as “Choleric of Temper” Again
- Oracle Lands Early Shots in SAP Trial
- Your Honor, We Object to Mr. Ellison’s Repeated Use of the Term “Slimy Weasels”
- Oracle to HP CEO: Chicken!
- Oracle Vs. SAP: We Got a Right to Pick a Little Fight–Bonanza!
- SAP’s Tab in Oracle Case: $120 Million and Counting
- Gag Order Denied in Oracle, SAP Trial
- Ellison Taunts HP CEO a Second Time
- SAP to Ellison: Save the Drama for Your Mama
- Ellison to HP CEO: “Warrior, Come Out to Plaaeeay!
- SAP: Please Gag Oracle
- HP Scandal Sucks in New York Times Columnist Over Conflict of Interest
- Welch to HP Board: You Don’t Know Jack!
- Insiders Criticize Ellison For HP CEO Slam
- Was Apotheker HP’s First Choice of CEO?
- HP Names Ex-SAP Chief Apotheker as CEO
