"The ruling of the Court has an immediate and demonstrable impact on Oracle's damages presentation, reducing the total by $500 million from $2.2 billion down to $1.6 billion," SAP said in a brief statement to reporters.

"This is the second such reduction by the Court and we are confident that, when the jury hears our case presentation, the outcome of the case will reflect the actual damages the limited actions of TomorrowNow had upon Oracle," it said.

A spokeswoman for Oracle declined to comment.

Oracle sued SAP after it learned its TomorrowNow division had been downloading Oracle software illegally from a customer support website and using it to win over Oracle customers. SAP has accepted liability and the trial is about how much damages it must pay.