Desperately Seeking The CEO: Oracle Said To Hire Detectives To Find Apotheker
Oracle's use of private eyes to find Apotheker was reported by Reuters, which quoted "a source with knowledge of the situation." An Oracle spokeswoman declined to comment on the report.
The trial, now underway in a federal district court in Oakland, Calif., will determine the amount of damages SAP owes Oracle after SAP's now-shuttered TomorrowNow subsidiary downloaded software and copyrighted support materials from Oracle Web sites. SAP has admitted that TomorowNow unlawfully acquired the materials.
Oracle has been trying to subpoena Apotheker to testify in the trial. Apotheker served as co-CEO and later CEO at SAP before resigning earlier this year. He was later tapped by HP to succeed Mark Hurd as CEO, and Oracle believes his testimony will buttress its case against its software rival.
Earlier this week Oracle CEO Larry Ellison testified that the theft of intellectual property cost Oracle up to $4 billion. While admitting liability in the case, SAP has argued that the damages are only in the tens of millions of dollars.
Apotheker was named HP's new CEO in September and was scheduled to start in his new job last week. A separate Reuters story Tuesday said Apotheker is in Japan, making it impossible for Oracle's lawyers to serve him with the subpoena.
HP has said that Oracle's efforts to get Apotheker to testify are interfering with his CEO duties and has called Oracle's actions "harassment." The dispute is souring relations between one-time allies Oracle and HP.