No Settlement With Oracle, SAP Chief Says

SAP AG has no intention of settling with Oracle Corp. over its trade secrets lawsuit filed last month, and will begin to launch its defense in the coming weeks, SAP CEO Henning Kagermann said on Friday.

"We have no intention to settle; why should we?" a defiant Kagermann told reporters and analysts during SAP's quarterly earnings call Friday. "We don't think anything is wrong in our company."

"We have a long legacy at the company, with an unparalleled reputation as a trusted advisor and a trusted partner," Kagermann said. "We believe in the importance of intellectual property rights and we will aggressively defend against the claims made in this lawsuit."

"However," he added, "this lawsuit is still in its early stages and we will formally respond to these claims within the next weeks."

His comments set the stage for what could be a lengthy battle with Oracle in the U.S. courts.

Oracle filed suit against SAP on March 22, accusing it of "corporate theft on a grand scale." Workers at SAP's TomorrowNow Inc. subsidiary in the U.S. allegedly hacked into an Oracle database and stole documents and software that Oracle uses to provide support service for its clients. Its goal was to offer cut-rate support service to Oracle customers, according to Oracle.

SAP had not commented on the lawsuit until now, except to say it would defend itself aggressively.

Earlier Friday, SAP reported a 10 percent jump in its first-quarter profit, helped by increased sales of its software and support services. Net income for the quarter was €310 million (US$413 million as of March 31, the last day of the period reported), up from €282 million a year earlier. Total revenue climbed 6 percent to €2.17 billion.