SAP to plead guilty to DOJ criminal charges

09.09.2011
Former SAP subsidiary TomorrowNow will plead guilty to criminal charges of copyright infringement for downloading software from Oracle's servers.

According to documents filed in the U.S. District Court of Northern California, former SAP subsidiary TomorrowNow will plead guilty to all 12 criminal charges brought by the U.S. Department of Justice.

"TomorrowNow will wave indictment and will agree to be charged in an Information with eleven counts of Unauthorized Access to a Protected Computer with Intent to Defraud and Obtaining Something of Value," the stipulation signed by the U.S. attorney and TomorrowNow said.

The company is also pleading guilty on one count of criminal infringement of a copyright.

The authorities filed criminal charges on Wednesday and TomorrowNow settled with the DOJ on Thursday. The penalty SAP faces is unclear. "The United States will lodge an under-seal copy of the proposed plea agreement with the Court separately," according to the document. Sentencing will take place at a hearing on Sept. 14.

"We are very pleased that the Department of Justice brought criminal charges against SAP for their widespread and systematic theft of Oracle's intellectual property to which SAP has repeatedly confessed," Oracle spokesperson Deborah Heller said in an email statement.