Justice Department Joins Fraud Lawsuit Against Oracle 100
suraj.sun writes with news that the US Department of Justice has joined a lawsuit alleging Oracle of overcharging the federal government for its software products. Quoting:
"In a nutshell, the lawsuit argues that Oracle's government customers — a wide array of agencies, including the State Department, the Energy Department, and the Justice Department itself — got deals 'far inferior' to those the enterprise software giant gave to its commercial clients. The allegations stem from a software deal between Oracle and the federal General Services Administration that the Justice Department says involved 'hundreds of millions of dollars in sales' and that ran from 1998 to 2006. Under the contract, Oracle was required to inform the GSA when commercial discounts improved and to offer those same discounts to government buyers. Oracle misrepresented its true commercial sales practices and thus defrauded the US, the lawsuit contends.
Glad I don't use Oracle! (Score:3, Funny)
Oracle was dumb... (Score:1, Funny)
Of all the people to try and rip off.. The government isn't the best to do it to.
Or in /. terms.. In soviet russia... The government still rips YOU off.
It's never the other way around.. :D
It may be a bit ambiguous.... (Score:3, Funny)
Looking at things from a purely capitalistic perspective...
If they are charging less for a particular customer, then they are making less money on the sale, so the client probably *ISN'T* their most favorite customer - in fact, their favorite customers would probably be the ones that they could most easily *OVER*charge money to, rather than those they charge the least to.
The contract _should_ have said an equal or lower price than *ANY* of their customers. If it actually used the word "favored" then I think Oracle might be in the clear... legally, if not ethically.
I don't understand (Score:2, Funny)
> US Department of Justice has joined a lawsuit alleging Oracle of overcharging the
> federal government for its software products.
I don't understand. Under what basis can they bring a lawsuit? It is not illegal to treat the federal government the same as all your other customers!