Oops! SAP admits 'inappropriate downloads' from Oracle

SAP has acknowledged in a court filing that its TomorrowNow subsidiary engaged in "inappropriate downloads" of Oracle's proprietary fixes and support documents.

SAP, a German-based enterprise software applications giant, also noted in its filing late Monday that the U.S. Justice Department has requested documents from the company and Texas-based TomorrowNow. SAP said it is cooperating.

The company made the filing in response to a lawsuit that rival Oracle filed in March. In the suit, Oracle alleged that third-party support company TomorrowNow engaged in more than 10,000 illicit downloads, in which it accessed more information than it was entitled to receive when acting on behalf of its customers who were using Oracle applications. Oracle said that, in some cases, TomorrowNow downloaded materials unrelated to the type of software that a particular TomorrowNow customer was running and, in other cases, presented Oracle support materials as its own.

SAP issued an apology and said it has taken action to resolve the issue.

"Even a single inappropriate download is unacceptable from my perspective. We regret very much that this occurred," Henning Kagermann, SAP's chief executive, said in a statement. "When I learned what happened, I promptly took action to strengthen operational oversight at TomorrowNow while assuring that we maintain excellent service for TomorrowNow's customers going forward."

SAP appointed SAP America Chief Operating Officer Mark White as TomorrowNow's executive chairman to manage the company's operations and compliance programs. Andrew Nelson, TomorrowNow's chief executive, will report to White.

"We have no evidence that Andrew was aware of these inappropriate downloads," Kagermann said in an analyst and press conference call Tuesday morning. The internal investigation is continuing.

"I told my people to do as much as possible," Kagermann said. "It's important to get entire clarity (of the situation)." SAP said that existing and new policies will be enforced at TomorrowNow, and that it will renew training for employees.

http://www.nytimes.com/cnet/CNET_2100-1014_3-6194666.html