On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a decision on a legal battle between Oracle and Google that has lasted for a decade. Oracle had accused Google of violating copyright laws by using bits of Oracle’s programming language to build Android’s OS.
While the two company’s shares didn’t react much to the news, a complete victory would have meant a major payday for Oracle, as the company was seeking $9 billion in damages.
However, the two companies haven’t just been competing in the legal arena. They are also two key players in the cloud computing industry, and Oracle is a major provider of enterprise software. For years, Oracle has refused to certify its database for use on Google’s cloud computing software, which has hampered Google’s ability to attract customers.
Now, Google itself has announced it’s dropping Oracle software for the company’s chief competitor, SAP. A high profile blow to Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, who has publicly bragged about the number of SAP customers Oracle has taken in recent quarters.