HP fires back at Oracle as companies wrangle over confidentiality

By Brandon Bailey

bbailey@mercurynews.com

Posted: 07/07/2011 03:38:06 PM PDT

Updated: 07/07/2011 10:21:19 PM PDT

Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) returned fire at a major tech rival Thursday, filing court papers that accused Oracle (ORCL) of grandstanding and declared HP's willingness to air previously sealed details of a lawsuit over Oracle's decision to stop making software for an HP computer system.

HP also made it clear that a legal settlement with former CEO Mark Hurd will be

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a key point in the case, adding that his "credibility" will be "very much at issue." Hurd, who was forced to resign from HP last summer, now is co-president at Oracle.

The companies seem to be daring each other to reveal terms of HP's confidential settlement with Hurd, negotiated after HP filed an earlier suit alleging that Hurd's knowledge of HP's corporate secrets might be an unfair advantage in his new job.

In its court filing, HP told a Santa Clara County judge that it is "more than willing" to disclose provisions of the Hurd settlement related to the current dispute. But HP also argued that both companies had unspecified reasons to keep other portions secret.

Oracle responded by urging the full settlement to be revealed.

"Oracle is not interested in withholding anything from the public," it said in a statement.

The two tech giants worked closely together for years, sharing thousands of customers who bought Oracle's business software to run on HP computer systems. They became bitter rivals after Oracle entered the hardware business by buying computer maker Sun Microsystems last year.

Their latest fight was sparked by Oracle's announcement that it will no longer provide new versions of software for HP server computers that use the Intel(INTC) processor Itanium. Oracle says it believes Intel plans to discontinue the chip, which both Intel and HP deny.

HP is arguing in court that Oracle has a legal obligation to continue making software for Itanium, under provisions of the Hurd settlement that committed the companies to continue previous cooperative efforts. In court papers last week, Oracle argued that the settlement did not impose any obligations regarding Itanium. Oracle's papers, which attacked HP for filing some of its arguments under seal, also contained a recounting of recent sore points between the companies, including Hurd's departure.

Oracle's filing was a "cheap shot" and filled with "misleading and inflammatory accusations," HP attorney Robert Cooper wrote in response. He also complained that Oracle's filing sought to belittle what he called Hurd's "serious misconduct" and HP's handling of his resignation.

Hurd resigned after a contractor accused him of sexual harassment; HP said the accusation was unsubstantiated but it found irregularities in Hurd's expenses.