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SAP Admits to 'Inappropriate' Downloading of Oracle Code
netbuzz writes "SAP's CEO Henning Kagermann uses the undoubtedly lawyered term 'inappropriate download' to describe the company's questionable actions. Henning blames a rogue business unit, but there can be no mistaking the fact that Oracle caught SAP with its hand in the IP jar on this one. The legal proceedings that will follow should prove interesting. 'The admission hurts SAP's reputation in the battle with Larry Ellison's Oracle in the $56 billion market for software that manages tasks such as payroll. The rivalry between SAP and Oracle escalated when Oracle filed its March 22 lawsuit claiming SAP workers hacked into a Web site and stole software codes on a grand scale.'"
I did not have inappropriate downloads with that source code!
They stoles codes? Oh noes!
Just a little harmless copyright infringement. There shouldn't be a problem here.
I believe that the Slashdot zeitgeist is that the word "stole" is used incorrectly here -- many Slashdotters believe that the term "to steal" should only be applied to an instance where a physical item is moved from one place to another, and should not be applied to instances of copyright infringement or unauthorized duplication -- although I presume that exceptions can be made for "theft of service," "identity theft," "you stole my thunder," "stolen kisses" and the like.
So -- was the code really stolen?
Sitting in my day care, the art is decopainted.
How likely is it that Oracle left a honeypot for SAP, MS, MySQL, or any other competitor to walk into, so that they could get rid of that competitor, or at least ruin their reputation and get some money? The fact that their was code on a website accessible to the outside world seems a little suspicious to me. Who leaves code on a publicly accessible server? I think that Oracle would at least be security savvy enough not to let their code be stolen. Anyway, not to start any conspiracy theories or anything, but I just find it a little odd.
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
This is illegal and perhaps fradulent (ie they claimed they were customers seeking service). But what gets me the most about this is how blisteringly stupid it is. "There's no way they could know it's us! Well, there's no way, apart from the webserver logs, that they could know it's us!".
From the article: So not only are they picking a legal fight with Oracle, pissing of the DOJ, and destroying their reputation, but they've basically shown they're not above pretending to be their customers. I bet the SAP CEO is turfed before the end of the next quarter.
Just think how many problems like this could be solved if someone went and invented some sort of free software licensing system, and everyone adopted it...
...that's stealing. People may try to justify stealing because the laws are bad (and the laws may need to be changed) but that doesn't change the fact that we steal things that don't belong to us.
We are stone-cold thieves. That's the human condition.
Except for ending slavery, the Nazis, communism, & securing American independence, war has never solved anything.
There was no source code on the website!
It was Technical Support documents and patches that SAP was downloading. The only "theft" here is that SAP did not have support contracts to download the patches and documents.
"Unbreakable", my ass.
sic transit gloria mundi
FTA (emphasis mine):That is most certainly the case.
And now for the snark. Wtf? PR special forces? What kind of training does that require? Going seven days without using buzzspeak or powerpoint? Writing press releases and giving presentations under hostile fire?
And, most importantly, what color are their berets?
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
The article summary by "netbuzz" is plain flamebait. As TFA says, SAP was authorized to download materials from Oracle's Web site on behalf of customers. The SAP support people made "inappropriate downloads" of fixes and support documents without direct customer need, but they don't state anywhere that there was any hacking or any "stolen" code or "intellectual property" beyond what Oracle specifically made available for support purposes!
I presume somewhere in the contract between Oracle and Merck there is something which says "only your employess may use this account", and there is probably a notice on the website which states that you can only access the account with your own login. The whole setup would be used to prevent other companies from supporting Oracle installations, I guess.
It's all about preventing competition and replacing innovation with lawsuits, in my opinion.
Umm this is SAP we're talking about. If you've ever used SAP you'd know there's no possible way they improved anybody else's code ;)
I used to work for SAP's IT dept. TomorrowNow is a third party support provider for Oracle products, including PeopleSoft and JD Edwards. SAP purchased them to provide a support bridge for products Oracle would be sunsetting, and hopefully bring those customers to SAP's product line as they eventually migrated away from the legacy products.
Clever idea, but this sort of situation was always a concern. How do you provide support for your competitors' products without getting dangerously close to (actual or apparent) IP theft when you need to look something up or do research on those products?
SAP always took that concern very seriously and had very, very strict security policy and access restrictions in place between TN and the rest of the SAP world to try to isolate any exposure. Even still, it always felt (to me, at least) like it was just a matter of time before this happened.