On July 24, 2023 in a major win for Oracle, Chief Judge Miranda Du of the District of Nevada entered a 197 page bench order that gives Oracle a sweeping victory in the case that Rimini Street brought against Oracle requesting a declaration that Rimini did not infringe Oracle's copyrights and seeking other relief. The Court dismissed Rimini's case, and found for Oracle on its counterclaim.
In conjunction with her bench order, Judge Du entered judgment for Oracle and issued a permanent injunction against Rimini Street finding that Oracle "mostly prevailed" and that Rimini Street won only as to non-infringement involving some EBS support processes. In addition to finding copyright infringement by Rimini, the court found for Oracle on Oracle's Lanham Act and DMCA claims.
The permanent injunction entered by the Court provides that "Rimini may not copy, distribute, prepare derivative works from, or use any PeopleSoft software (or any portion thereof) or documentation (or any portion thereof) from any PeopleSoft software environment that Rimini reproduced or used as part of its Environments 2.0 (also referred to as Process 2.0) migration, including the PeopleSoft software environments listed in P-9008, and any subsequent copies of those environments." Rimini was also prohibited from copying, distributing or preparing derivative works involving other updates, tools and files.
On Oracle's Lanham Act claims Rimini was enjoined from making certain advertising claims and ordered to issue a corrective press release. According to the injunction:
"This press release is ordered by the Court in the Oracle v. Rimini litigation to provide customers and prospective customers of Rimini Street with information about false and misleading statements that Rimini Street has made in its advertisements and marketing campaigns.
The press release must further state: "The following statements were made by
Rimini in advertisements and marketing campaigns and were found by the Court to be
false and misleading:
1. United States District Judge Larry R. Hicks' rulings in the Oracle I litigation related to processes or software that were not in use at Rimini between February 2014 and January 2020.
2. Rimini did not copy or share Oracle software between clients between February 2014 and January 2020.
3. Security professionals have found that traditional vendor security patching models are outdated and provide ineffective security protection.
4. Oracle's CPUs provide little to no value to customers and are no longer relevant.
5. Oracle's CPUs are unnecessary to be secure.
6. It is not risky to switch to Rimini and forego receiving CPUs from Oracle.
7. Once an Oracle ERP platform is stable, there is no real need for additional patches from Oracle.
8. If you are operating a stable version of an Oracle application platform, especially with customizations, you probably cannot apply or do not even need the latest patches.
9. Virtual patching can serve as a replacement for Oracle patching.
10. Virtual patching can be more comprehensive, more effective, faster, safer, and easier to apply than traditional Oracle patching.
11. Rimini offers "holistic security" solutions for Oracle software for enterprises.
12. Rimini Security Support Services helps clients proactively maintain a more secure application compared to Oracle's support program which offers only software package-centric fixes.
13. Rimini provides more security as compared to Oracle
14. Rimini's Global Security Services can pinpoint and circumvent vulnerabilities months and even years before they are discovered and addressed by the software vendor.
15. There are no similarities between TomorrowNow and Rimini other than the fact that they both have provided third-party maintenance."
Rimini Street has appealed the Judgment, the Permanent Injunction, the Bench Order and all other previous orders to the Ninth Circuit.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
