SAP, Oracle settle long-running legal dispute

German software giant SAP has agreed to pay US rival Oracle more than $359 million (288 million euros) to settle a long-running copyright battle, it said on Friday.

"Oracle will accept $356.7 millions in compensation and interest payments rather than appeal again," SAP said in a statement.

Added to this sum was another $2.5 million in interest payments, a spokesman told AFP.

The two arch-rivals have been engaged in a fierce legal spat since 2007 related to TomorrowNow, SAP's former US subsidiary.

TomorrowNow had offered support to Oracle customers at a lower price than Oracle itself.

The US company accused SAP of stealing its software in order to be able to offer those services.

In November 2010, a US jury ordered SAP to pay the Silicon Valley giant $1.3 billion in damages. But the payment was subsequently dismissed as "grossly excessive" and slashed to $272 million.

Oracle rejected that amount and filed an appeal.

The German group said it was "satisfied" that the court had finally accepted SAP's arguments to limit the amount of damages and that Oracle had agreed to put an end to the litigation.