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12 July 2021CopyrightAlex Baldwin

Oracle sues NEC for copyright infringement, breach of contract

Oracle has sued tech giant NEC of America in federal court for allegedly infringing copyrights and breaching a licence agreement related to its flagship database management software.

The Thursday, July 8, complaint filed with the US District Court for the Northern District of California claimed that NEC had customised and distributed Oracle’s database software in a way that was not covered by its limited licensing agreement.

The improper usage of the software in NEC’s biometrics system has caused Oracle more than $7 million in damages, Oracle claims.

However, Oracle says that it does not know whether it is aware of the “full-scope” of NEC’s “improper conduct pertaining to the agreement” due to the NEC’s reluctance to share crucial information.

Oracle is seeking action for copyright infringement for failing to pay license, maintenance and support fees for the database software, as well as breach of contract.

Biometrics identification system

The complaint highlights the improper usage of Oracle’s database software in NEC’s Integra-ID 5 biometrics identification system, which is used by law enforcement agencies to match fingerprint, palmprint, face, voice and iris data.

Following an audit by Oracle in 2019, it discovered several issues with NEC’s use of its database technology that it claims breaches contract, predominantly involving unreported royalties and a failure to provide information of its on-premise development environments.

Primarily, Oracle said it discovered that NEC had been paying Oracle limited license fees for the usage of Oracle’s products in the Integra ID-5, but had customised the software for its users in a way only covered by the full-license agreement.

Oracle claimed it flagged the issues it found with NEC in an audit report sent in October 2020, requesting it to resolve the issues within 30 days, and asked it to pay for additional licenses.

According to the complaint, NEC did not resolve the issues within the 30 days and failed to do so following repeated requests from Oracle in the following months.

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