Theft of Trade Secrets: Software Manufacturer o9 Sues SAP
SAP is alleged to have used the poaching of o9 executives to gain access to confidential information and thus improve its own competitive position.
(Image: Kittyfly/Shutterstock.com)
Executives of the German software group SAP are alleged to have stolen trade secrets. This is the accusation made by the US software manufacturer o9 against the German company, which has filed a lawsuit before a federal court in Dallas, Texas. "o9 brings this action to prevent SAP and former o9 employees, [Stephan] de Barse, [Sijn-Pieter] van Houten, and [Sean] Zonneveld, who now work for SAP, from exploiting o9's most sensitive and valuable trade secrets (…) against o9," according to the filing in the complaint, filed on Tuesday with the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas (Case No. 03245-L).
According to the complaint, the three former o9 executives allegedly downloaded more than 20,000 o9 files "to appropriate o9's trade secrets and confidential documents before leaving o9," and took them with them when they moved to SAP. The documents reportedly concerned product design, software implementation, sales strategies, and information on customer-specific projects, among other things. The legal dispute between o9 and SAP primarily revolves around business planning software, i.e., software for planning business activities such as sales forecasting, supply chain optimization, or factory capacity planning.
"Aggressive Campaign"
o9, founded in 2009 and headquartered in Dallas, accuses SAP of launching an "aggressive campaign" to obtain its trade secrets. o9 specializes in software for corporate planning and supply chain management based on AI and machine learning. In recent years, it has evolved from a small start-up into a global technology company with 17 branches and 2,500 employees worldwide. According to the lawsuit, SAP poached the three o9 executives and used their positions to gain access to o9's confidential information.
"SAP not only hired o9 employees but also initiated a plan to exfiltrate large amounts of o9 trade secrets for use at SAP. Given his impending departure, de Barse, along with van Houten and Zonneveld, coordinated the mass download of over 22,000 o9 files from o9's shared Google drives," the complaint states.
Videos by heise
Targeted Customer Poaching
o9 claims that SAP is using the downloaded information to specifically poach customers, including the German consumer goods company Henkel, "a former top customer of o9." As further evidence "of SAP's coordinated theft and use of o9's trade secrets and confidential materials," the Americans point to SAP's recent revision of features and marketing materials for its IBP (Integrated Business Planning) solutions and other ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software to precisely mimic o9's offerings.
According to a report by the daily newspaper Handelsblatt, SAP stated that it is reviewing o9's lawsuit and will "respond appropriately." "We take these allegations very seriously and have initiated a thorough internal review. We are also examining measures to ensure that our business practices remain fully compliant," it said.
Further Proceedings
SAP is facing further legal proceedings in the USA. Just at the beginning of October, the Supreme Court of the United States allowed a lawsuit by the US database manufacturer Teradata against SAP to proceed. The legal dispute concerns, among other things, the allegation that SAP violates US antitrust law by bundling HANA and S/4HANA. The legal dispute between the two companies dates back to a Teradata lawsuit from June 2018.
In a second antitrust proceeding, the German software company Celonis sued SAP in March before a district court in San Francisco for alleged violations of antitrust law and other laws. SAP's business practices are aimed at pushing third-party providers like Celonis out of the market for business process optimization, the accusation states.
(akn)
