A judge in U.S. District Court in San Francisco ruled that Oracle and SAP should try to settle charges of intellectual property theft and copyright infringement through mediation. Oracle, however, says it wants no part of any mediation efforts and intends to file new claims against SAP and its TomorrowNow subsidiary.

The judge's order for mediation, a process known as Alternative Dispute Resolution, in which the parties in a lawsuit attempt to settle a case without a trial, came after Oracle and SAP met Feb. 12 in a pre-trial case management meeting at the courthouse.

Oracle initially filed suit last March claiming corporate intellectual property theft on a grand scale. Several months later, Oracle amended its charge to include allegations of code theft, copyright infringement and breach of contract claims. Oracle is again on the verge of amending its complaint against SAP, according to company spokesperson Debra Hellinger.

"As set forth in Oracle's current claims, it appears that SAP infringed Oracle's intellectual property on a daily basis over a course of many years, in ways that Oracle is only beginning to discover," said Hellinger in a statement.

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