SAP, a German software giant, admitted yesterday that a subsidiary had improperly obtained documents and software from Oracle, its archrival in the business software market. It also disclosed that the Justice Department was investigating the matter.

But SAP CEO Henning Kagermann denied that Oracle's business had suffered any harm as a result of the unauthorized downloads from an Oracle Web site, which provides technical support and materials for large corporate customers.

In an interview, Kagermann expressed regret about the downloads, which took place from September 2006 to January 2007, and he outlined changes to tighten oversight at the subsidiary, TomorrowNow. Still, he portrayed the problem as the isolated acts of a tiny unit in Bryan, Tex., with 157 employees, operating outside the systems and controls of the parent company. "SAP did not have access to the materials at TomorrowNow," Kagermann said.

The SAP disclosures came in response to a suit filed in March by Oracle in Federal District Court in San Francisco. The Oracle suit accused SAP of intruding into its computer systems to carry out "corporate theft on a grand scale." Oracle, the leading maker of corporate database software, has made a big push in recent years to challenge SAP in the lucrative market for business software that companies use to manage their finances, human resources, sales and customer relations.

[Via New York Times]