OAKLAND, Calif. (CN) - SAP must pay a $20 million fine to the government because its shuttered subsidiary, Tomorrownow, accessed an Oracle computer without authorization and stole software that it then illegally reproduced.
The penalty is in addition to the $1.3 billion that a jury ordered the German company to pay for Tomorrownow's conduct. The November 2010 award marked the largest ever in a copyright case.
TomorrowNow entered its guilty pleas in the criminal case through a corporate representative, admitting to charges of unauthorized access and criminal copyright infringement. U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton handed down the sentence.
SAP bought the Bryan, Texas-based Tomorrownow in 2005 and closed it three years later. Oracle is reportedly the world's second-largest maker of business software; SAP is the largest.
In addition to the $20 million fine, Tomorrownow was sentenced to probation.
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