SAP wins summary judgment on Teradata trade secret and antitrust claims
Client(s) SAP SE
Jones Day successfully defended SAP, one of the world's leading producers of software for the management of business processes, against trade secret and antitrust claims in a lawsuit filed in the Northern District of California. Teradata, a database software company, filed suit in 2018, alleging that SAP misappropriated trade secrets during a joint project between the parties, and used those trade secrets to develop HANA – SAP's revolutionary in-memory database product. Teradata further alleged that SAP was attempting to monopolize the database market, and unlawfully tied HANA together with SAP's ERP software, known as S/4HANA, in violation of federal antitrust law. Teradata sought significant damages, in addition to injunctive relief.
Jones Day persuaded the district court to grant summary judgment on both of Teradata's core claims. The court held, first, that contracts between the parties required Teradata to mark the alleged trade secrets as confidential, which Teradata did not do, and gave SAP ownership rights over modifications to SAP's products resulting from the project. The court held, second, that Teradata's antitrust claims failed because Teradata failed to properly define a tying or tied market, and failed to show that SAP caused actual injury to competition in the markets Teradata did define.
The Jones Day team was composed of attorneys from nine offices and four practice groups – Business & Tort Litigation, Intellectual Property, Antitrust, and Issues & Appeals. Jones Day is also representing SAP in another Teradata patent case and several related inter partes review (IPR) proceedings before the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB).
Teradata Corporation, et al. v. SAP SE, et al., No. 3-18-cv-03670 (N.D. Cal.); IPR Nos. 2020-00939-943 (PTAB)
