SAP must pay Oracle interest on $1.3B verdict
By David Goldman, staff writer
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Corporate software company SAP must pay rival Oracle millions of dollars in interest on a $1.3 billion copyright infringement verdict, a U.S. district judge ruled this week.
Judge Phyllis Hamilton did not say exactly how much interest SAP would have to pay, but she used a methodology that SAP estimated would cost it about $16.5 million.
The court's decision was a compromise between Oracle's and SAP's demands. Oracle had asked for SAP to pay $211 million in interest on the penalty, but SAP said it should not have to pay any interest at all.
Instead, the judge ruled that there was precedent for such an interest payment, which would require SAP to pay Oracle compound interest on the fine at a rate equal to the weekly average yield of the one-year Treasury bond at the time of the ruling, which was 0.3%. SAP will have to pay interest dating back to Sept. 29, 2006.
Last month, a jury awarded Oracle the $1.3 billion sum for copyright infringement by SAP's now-defunct software maintenance unit, TomorrowNow. SAP admitted to the wrongdoing, but had offered just a $40 million settlement. The company said it would appeal the ruling if it is not overturned in post-trial motions.
Credit: CNN (www.cnn.com)
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