The Superior Court of California decides in favour of HP in the legal battle against Oracle-- ruling Oracle of breach of contract when it dropped HP Itanium server support for future database software versions.
The court demands "Oracle’s obligation to continue to offer its products on HP’s Itanium-based server platforms lasts until such time as HP discontinues the sales of its Itanium-based servers."
Worthy in the least of a made-for-TV legal drama, the Oracle vs. HP war started back in 2010, when HP kicked then CEO Mark Hurd following his re-routing expense money to soft core porn star turned B-film actress Jodie Fisher. A tennis buddy of no other than Oracle CEO Larry Ellison (who described the firing "the worst personnel decision since the idiots on the Apple board fired Steve Jobs many years ago”) Hurd quickly got a job running Oracle sales and operations.
Not too happy with such a decision, HP claimed the Oracle hiring violated confidentiality agreements Hurd signed previously. So it sued, after picking ex-Oracle deputy Ray Lane as chairman of the board...
The two former best friends kissed and made up on September 2010, with a contract stating Oracle will “continue to offer its product suite on HP platforms… in a manner consistent with [the Oracle-HP] partnership as it existed prior to Oracle’s hiring of Hurd.”
Complications arose (don't they always?) on March 2011, when Oracle announced it was dropping support for Itanium, claiming the HP sever chip series was soon on its way out. HP got upset, sued... and the rest is now recent history.
What next for HP? If the ruling stands HP can sue for around $500 million in damages for breach of contract. And Itanium will trundle on, presumably on Oracle software.
