Oracle-SAP trial goes to the jury

Oracle Corp's chief, Larry Ellison, pulled numbers "out of the air" when he estimated SAP AG owed billions of dollars in damages for the theft of Oracle software, an SAP lawyer told a US court.

Oracle Corp's chief, Larry Ellison, pulled numbers "out of the air" when he estimated SAP AG owed billions of dollars in damages for the theft of Oracle software, an SAP lawyer told a US court.

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Oracle attorney David Boies said the case was about the sanctity of the software industry's intellectual property. "Protection of intellectual property is at the heart of the software industry," Boies said.

With that, each side concluded its closing arguments and a federal court jury began deliberating on Monday in a trial that has captivated Silicon Valley because of the high profile of the executives and companies involved.

From the outset of the trial, SAP acknowledged that a now-defunct subsidiary, TomorrowNow, stole Oracle software.