Judge: Oracle Can See Competitors' Info

March 10, 2004

SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal judge today opened the door for Oracle's (Quote, Chart) lawyers to view sensitive company information from PeopleSoft (Quote, Chart) and other third-party competitors such as Microsoft (Quote, Chart).

In a pre-trial hearing at the U.S. District Court here, Judge Vaughn R. Walker denied the U.S. Department of Justice's request for a two-tiered system for Oracle's attorneys. The motion would have prevented Oracle's lawyers from seeing inside trade secrets the government has collected as part of its case to block Oracle's controversial $9.4 billion PeopleSoft bid.

DoJ lead attorney Bruce McDonald said the system was needed to protect sensitive company information from Pleasanton, Calif.-based PeopleSoft, as well as some 33 other third-party partners and Oracle competitors as part of its case.

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