Oracle and SAP legal spat rumbles on

Larry Ellison's firm now seeking $777m in damages for copyright infringement that dates back to 2007

Oracle and SAP are set for yet another courtroom showdown as Larry Ellison's firm seeks $777m (£481m) in damages in a retrial of the duo's copyright infringement spat.

The pair has been wrangling for years after Oracle discovered in 2007 that SAP's TomorrowNow unit had pinched its software.

SAP did not contest that it was liable for infringement but the initial award of $1.3bn was labelled "grossly excessive" by the appeal judge in 2010 and reduced to $272m.

Not accepting the revised verdict, Oracle is pursuing a new trial, which is scheduled for 18 June.

In a court filing on 26 April, Oracle said it has a right to pursue actual damages measured by the "fair market value of the rights infringed", according to a Bloomberg report. If that does not work, Oracle said it will pursue damages based on $656m in SAP's profits and $120.7m in Oracle's lost profits.

"We think Oracle's damage estimate is overstated," Jim Dever, a spokesman for SAP, told Bloomberg.