SAP had argued that it should have to pay only for the profits that Oracle lost from customers who switched to TomorrowNow's services. According to SAP, that amounted to only tens of millions of dollars for a handful of customers.

SAP filed a few post-trial motions before the verdict was delivered. One of those asked the judge, in the event of a high jury award, to consider whether the damages are fair and appropriate. It wasn't immediately clear Tuesday if Judge Phyllis Hamilton planned to consider those motions.

One observer said the verdict is more than a financial setback for SAP.

"The bigger damage will likely be in the competitive marketplace, where Oracle will be pushing its new generation of Fusion apps and application updates, and SAP has little to offer but a further tarnished reputation," said analyst Rebecca Wettemann, a vice president with Nucleus Research.

SAP initially denied knowing about the illegal software downloading at TomorrowNow, which started before it bought the company. But shortly before the trial, it said it would not contest "contributory infringement" in the case. That means it acknowledged that its executives knew, or should have known, about the illegal downloads.