Larry Ellison ups losses claim to $4bn at SAP trial

Oracle chief executive Larry Ellison has claimed that his company lost $4bn (£2.47bn) in revenue after the theft of code by TomorrowNow and SAP, as he took to the stand at the trial to determine the damages SAP should pay its rival.

A report on Reuters said that SAP's lawyers immediately questioned the veracity of Ellison's claims in court, asking him to produce written evidence of these losses, which he said he was unable to do.

Ellison also failed to produce any testimony to back up his previous public assertion that HP's new chief executive, Léo Apotheker, knew of the theft during his time at SAP, but did nothing about it until Oracle sued.

He added that Oracle executives had feared that SAP's purchase of TomorrowNow would allow the German company to entice customers away from Oracle, but was unable to produce evidence of these discussions when questioned.

"I've had that discussion with people, but I tend not to write those things down," he replied.

The report also claimed that Oracle has private detectives looking for Apotheker to serve him with a subpoena and force him to testify at the trial.

Oracle's lead trial attorney, David Boies, reportedly said outside the courtroom that the jury needs to hear Apotheker speak in person and that it is important to find him.

"The more detail we go into publicly, the less chance we have to find him," he said.

TomorrowNow was bought by SAP in 2005 and used to try and migrate customers away from Oracle by using the TomorrowNow code to ease the process.