Justice Department Joins Fraud Lawsuit Against Oracle 100
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by
Soulskill
from the just-tell-them-it-was-for-national-security dept.
from the just-tell-them-it-was-for-national-security dept.
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.
Re:The first rule on playing against the house... (Score:4, Insightful)
Problem is - who is the house?
Most people would say the government, and then other people tote in and say the government is run by corporations.
Re:It may be a bit ambiguous.... (Score:4, Insightful)
The legal system, just like any profession, has it's own definitions and most-favored customer is one of them. If they didn't have accepted definitions, most contracts suits would go nowhere because the meaning of anything could be debated (ie depends on the meaning of the word "is" is)
http://www.businessdictionary.com/tips/22/the-most-favored-customer-clause.html [businessdictionary.com]
Re:The government can pay more (Score:5, Insightful)