Oracle: HP's lawsuit a 'publicity stunt'

Oracle’s reaction to HP’s lawsuit, has been a strong one. Dubbed as a ‘publicity stunt’ the software giant believes HP is trying to find a scapegoat.

In a court filing at the end of June, Oracle claimed that, "this case is a broader campaign to lay the blame on Oracle for the disruption that will occur when HP's Itanium-based server business comes to an end."

Oracle described HP as clinging to a ‘decades-old microprocessor architecture,’ specifically, Intel’s Itanium chip line.

HP claimed that a contract was signed to ensure the database software for the Itanium processor was maintained, Oracle stated otherwise in the filing.

“Such an important contract, if it existed, would obviously be a heavily negotiated, fully documented, formal contract, with terms and conditions and all the other characteristics of real-world commercial agreements. But there is no such agreement.”

Apparently, a ‘corporate hug’ may have been taken the wrong way by HP. The two companies made up last year following the spat when HP’s former chief executive, Mark Hurd, joined Oracle as co-president.

A lawsuit had been initiated by HP but was dropped and both sides made a joint statement, which included the supposed promise.

“This agreement also reaffirms HP and Oracle's commitment to delivering the best products and solutions to their more than 140,000 shared customers."

Oracle is dismissive, describing the statement as ‘two fuzzy sentences that primarily deal with an employment dispute.” HP, obviously, read more into the public back patting.

HP may have to get over the breakup and move on. Oracle in the mean time has bigger fish to fry as the battle with Google continues.