The District Court in Nevada, USA, has ruled in favour of Oracle on a number of motions during the Rimini Street, Inc. v. Oracle International battle.

The Court found that certain past Rimini Street third-party support practices infringed at least 17 Oracle copyrights. On top of that, certain support practices that Rimini Street described as ‘new’ were also found to continue infringing upon Oracle copyrights.

“We are grateful for the Court’s thorough and well-reasoned opinion, which finds that Rimini Street infringed in the past, and continues to infringe Oracle’s intellectual property,” said Dorian Daley, Oracle’s Executive Vice President and General Counsel in a press release by the tech giant.

Oracle stated that the court dismissed various Rimini Street claims and defenses, which means that Rimini Street will have no claims for damages, while Oracle will proceed with numerous damages claims when the case goes to trial.

“Customers considering Rimini Street should understand that this serial infringer continues to disregard Oracle’s copyrights, and we’ll be seeking additional substantial damages at trial for this unlawful conduct,” said Mr. Daley.

Rimini Street retains right to provide aftermarket support

During the ruling, the Court was said to reiterate Rimini Street’s legal right to still provide aftermarket support for Oracle’s enterprise software, which has been adopted by the likes of Kakao in South Korea, Hyundai-Kia Motors and Proton in Malaysia.

“The Court also resolved some of the issues the parties have disputed, ruling in some instances for Rimini Street and in some instances for Oracle. Rimini Street is continuing to evaluate the order and looks forward to a jury trial on the remaining issues,” said Rimini Street in a press release.

In total, Oracle stated the District Court for the District of Nevada ruled in their favour on seven separate motions for partial summary judgment, granting in full or in part every Oracle motion and denying in full every Rimini Street motion.

The Rimini Street, Inc. v. Oracle International lawsuit was officially brought by Rimini Street against Oracle in 2014, and the summary judgements delivered yesterday (September 15 2020) had been pending with the court since December 2018.

Oracle and Rimini Street have been caught in a legal battle since January 2010. Oracle filed the suit against Rimini Street alleging software copyright violations. 

A jury ruled in favour of Oracle in 2015 on one count of “innocent infringement” meaning that Rimini Street did not deliberately infringe on copyright laws. 

A United States District Court in Nevada handed Rimini Street a permanent injunction in August 2018 ordering Rimini Street to not reproduce or distribute Oracle software. This court battle has led to Rimini Street paying out more than US$100 million to Oracle.

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