Tuesday 2 November 2010

The Good Thief at Judgment Day

 

For those readers who have had traditional Christian education the character of Saint Dismas should not be unfamiliar. This Saint is as well known as The Good Thief. He was a thief who was crucified beside Christ, and before both of them died, he repented (last minute call indeed!) from his sins and previous life, and Jesus granted him a place in Heaven.

Despite having in front of them nothing less than Pontifex Maximus at the Oracle, playing the Good Thief does not seem the wisest strategy for the lawyers at SAP. At the moment, they have played quite a smart strategy, tying with the Oracle before the trial started, in our opinion, which could be considered a major achievement given they have admitted guilt about “inappropriate behavior” against the oracle.

As the trial is set to determine how much SAP should pay to Pontifex Maximus Big Mouth Larry, the fact that SAP started admitting $40 million in damages “because of their subsidiary’s ultimate failure to lure many customers from Oracle is a piece of cake to the lethal lawyers that work for the oracle.

For God’s sake! Attempting to minimize damages by saying that as a thief you were doing a bad job does not minimize guilt at all. It basically means admitting that not only you have been a thief, but a stupid one. The potential damages, the intention after the theft, the plans remain the same. Only for this jurors should grant the oracle anything they ask for!. No wonder that in parallel as well SAP has offered another $120 million in concept of attorneys fees and costs. By the way, SAP is reported as having already accrued for as much as precisely $160 million for this trial. (Running out of batteries, SAP?)

Judgment Day has started… but let’s understand clearly that Judge Phyllis Hamilton is not God, and definitely it is not the moment to play the Good Thief role. (We may leave the Pontifex Maximus playing the role of Caiaphas, though, well escorted by Annas Hurd…)

Footnote: Hermione, this one’s for you too… you know why, don’t you?

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