Stolen o9 trade secrets? SAP dismisses three executives

According to a report by Handelsblatt, SAP has dismissed three top managers following allegations of theft of trade secrets. The report states that these are three former executives from competitor o9 who had moved to SAP. In November, o9 sued SAP in a federal court in Dallas, Texas, alleging that the o9 executives had downloaded more than 20,000 files containing confidential o9 documents and taken them with them when they moved to SAP.

When asked by the iX editorial team, SAP confirmed that "three people are currently leaving the company." SAP further stated that the review so far had not revealed any evidence of misconduct on the company's part. SAP did not disclose the reason for the separation. Handelsblatt, citing company insiders, writes that the case is considered sensitive within the Walldorf-based software company.

"Aggressive Campaign"

o9, founded in 2009 and headquartered in Dallas, accuses SAP of launching an "aggressive campaign" to obtain its trade secrets. Furthermore, SAP is allegedly using the downloaded information to poach customers, including the German consumer goods company Henkel, "a former top customer of o9." SAP is also said to have recently revised functions and marketing materials for its IBP (Integrated Business Planning) solutions and other ERP software to precisely imitate o9's offerings. o9 specializes in software for corporate planning and supply chain management based on AI and machine learning, operates 17 branches, and has around 2,500 employees.

According to a spokesperson, SAP "firmly rejects the allegations made in this lawsuit in its early stages." Accordingly, the company has requested the dismissal of the lawsuit. According to Handelsblatt, the argument is that the court in the US state of Texas is not competent because the three managers are Dutch citizens who moved from o9's Dutch branch to SAP's local branch there. The three affected managers are also said to have rejected the allegations.

(axk)