back to article Oracle tells US Supremes: Ignore Rimini Street. You don't need to review copyright case

Oracle has said support biz Rimini Street is invoking a "shallow and stale" circuit court split that doesn't merit the Supreme Court's attention in a bid to claw back cash it isn't owed. The latest in the years-long legal wrangling between the two comes after Rimini Street filed a petition with the top US court, as it tries to …

  1. Ian Michael Gumby
    Boffin

    Oracle will win...

    There are three options...

    1) SCOTUS ducks the case and the existing verdict stands.

    2) SCOTUS hears the case and rules in favor of Oracle.

    3) SCOTUS hears the case, rules in favor of Rimini Street, and the case goes back to the court to redo the award to Oracle for damages.

    Now these three are not weighted equally. And the odds are that either option 1 or 2 will be higher than option 3. At the same time... if successful, the lower court will re-assess the damages including the legal costs of the appeal(s) and SCOTUS decision.

    While the 9th usually gets it wrong, in this case, IMHO, they got it right. In fact Rimini is risking that the original judge could say ... ok, there's willful infringement therefore you face treble the damages plus additional legal fees which would put them back in the same boat.

    1. Gordon 10

      Re: Oracle will win...

      I wonder if the Rimini street lawyers costs are are small enough to be being funded by interest from the potential damage payments?

      How much does external counsel sufficient to handle SCOTUS level affairs cost compared to $12m? Its got to be an appreciable percentage, several million dollars I would wager.

    2. a_yank_lurker

      Re: Oracle will win...

      Given there is a split at the appeals level, option 1 is not as likely. There is a 4th option; the Nine Seniles could rule the law is unconstitutional effectively making the case null and void.

      1. Ian Michael Gumby
        Boffin

        @ Yank ... Re: Oracle will win...

        Silly boy... even with a split at the lower courts... SCOTUS can still say no and not take the case. Also was this en banc or a subset of judges at the lower level?

        And no, what you suggest while a potential, yet highly improbable, doesn't even register on the charts.

        Like I said, the argument is in Oracle's favor.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Can we petition SCOTUS

    To start winding up procedures on Oracle? They seem like a boil that needs lancing especially wrt the case against Google over API's.

    1. JohnFen

      Re: Can we petition SCOTUS

      I loathe Oracle and its business practices, but we really shouldn't start down the road of "they're bad guys, so they should lose". They should win or lose based on the merits of the case at hand, independent of other cases.

      I know literally nothing about this particular case, but on the surface, Oracle's argument sounds strong enough to be worth consideration by a court.

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