Oracle (ORCL) To Pay HP (HPQ) $3 Billion In Damages

A long running lawsuit has finally come to an end with Oracle being ordered by a California judge to pay software company Hewlett Packard Enterprises Co. a hefty $3 billion in damages.

The lawsuit began when Oracle decided in 2011 to stop offering products on HP’s Itanium servers. The Itanium processor is owned by Intel Corp.

HP alleged that it had an agreement with Oracle that Oracle would continue to support Itanium, even though Intel decided the chip was coming to the end of its life.

Back in 2012, Santa Clara Superior Court Judge James Kleinberg ruled that Oracle and HP had a contract.

The jury just decided the damages on Thursday with Oracle ordered to pay the $3 billion. The jury unanimously decided on a verdict in under five hours and came to the conclusion that Oracle’s decision to stop developing software for the Itanium chip pressured H-P’s revenue negatively.

John Schultz, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise’s executive vice president and general counsel said, “HP is gratified by the jury’s verdict, which affirms what HP has always known and the evidence overwhelmingly showed.” He said Oracle’s move to halt software development “was a clear breach of contract.”

Oracle general counsel Dorian Daley told Reuters that Oracle intends to appeal both the ruling Thursday as well as the previous ruling.

Disclaimer: We have no position in Oracle Corporation (NYSE: ORCL) or HP Inc (NYSE: HPQ) and have not been compensated for this article.