Dive Brief:

• The trial between Oracle and Rimini Street is finally under way in Las Vegas.
• Oracle Corp. is suing Rimini Street Inc. over software that provides low-cost support for Oracle customers.
• Rimini offers businesses support for “at least half” of the cost of support offered directly through Oracle.

Dive Insight:

Last year, a judge ruled in favor of Oracle, saying Rimini had violated copyrights for two products. Now a jury will determine the extent of the damages Rimini must pay. The trial began September 14.

An Oracle victory in the case could limit competition and options for CIOs looking to cut costs. Some CIOs say they are frustrated with big software companies that charge exorbitant costs for licensing, maintenance and support. Some CIOs say Oracle charges too much for updates and other tweaks they don’t need.

"[The support] cost was high and we never got anything out of them,” said Valspar CIO Tom Grooms, who switched to Rimini to reduce costs.

Rimini has won over 800 Oracle customers since launching in 2005.

Pat Phelan, research vice president for enterprise application strategies at Gartner Inc., said the dispute is closely watched.

“I sometimes take two or three calls a day from CIOs and ERP leaders … that are considering canceling a vendor maintenance contract and moving to a third party option. This topic of Rimini-Oracle litigation always comes up,” said Phelan. “It is my understanding that the right of a third party to provide software services on behalf of a customer is not being questioned.”