Oracle lawyers' $58 million fee award on the line in Rimini Street appeal
March 13 (Reuters) - (Billable Hours is Reuters' weekly report on lawyers and money. Please send tips or suggestions to D.Thomas@thomsonreuters.com, opens new tab)
After 15 years of litigation, a copyright law battle between software support company Rimini Street (RMNI.O), opens new tab and tech giant Oracle (ORCL.N), opens new tab is headed back to a U.S. appeals court, as Rimini fights to overturn $58 million in legal fees awarded to Oracle in the case in September.
Rimini's lawyers at Weil, Gotshal & Manges and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in their opening brief, opens new tab this week asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reject the fee award as unjustified.
A federal judge in Nevada awarded the fees to Oracle last year after finding it had substantially prevailed on its copyright infringement claims against Las Vegas-based Rimini, which provided technical support for Oracle enterprise software clients starting in 2008.
Oracle first sued Rimini in 2010, accusing it of illegally using its software and support materials for Rimini clients. Rimini was ordered to pay Oracle $90 million following a 2015 jury verdict, including $58.1 million in damages and $31.9 million in attorneys' fees and costs.
Rimini in a separate 2014 lawsuit asked a judge to rule that it had stopped infringing Oracle's copyrights. The judge found in a bench ruling in 2023 that Oracle prevailed on some of its copyright allegations, though the 9th Circuit vacated most of that decision in December.
Weil's Mark Perry, a lead appellate lawyer for Rimini, argued in the company's latest appeal that Oracle had failed "after more than a decade of scorched-earth litigation" to succeed on copyright claims for which it once sought more than $1.4 billion in damages.
"It is exceptionally clear that Oracle is not the prevailing party and is not entitled to an award of the tens of millions of dollars it spent losing this case," Rimini told the San Francisco-based 9th Circuit.
Rimini said the case produced "a mixed-result" that does not warrant awarding fees to either side. In the least, Rimini argued, the appeals court should find that Oracle's fee award was "dramatically excessive" and should be significantly reduced.
Oracle and Rimini did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
-- Eight U.S. states and the District of Columbia have asked a federal judge to award them legal fees for winning an order in federal court blocking Kroger's now-abandoned $25 billion deal for grocery rival Albertsons.
U.S. District Judge Adrienne Nelson will weigh the fee request. The states did not ask for a specific amount, but the total could reach millions of dollars.
-- President Donald Trump's pick to lead the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Jonathan Gould of Jones Day, disclosed $1.6 million in salary on an ethics form submitted, opens new tab as part of his nomination. Gould said he provided legal services to banking and financial clients including Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs.
In another filing, William Kimmitt, a nonequity partner at law firm Kirkland & Ellis, disclosed $254,000 in salary on an ethics form submitted as part of his nomination to a post at the U.S. Treasury Department. Kimmitt said he provided legal services to BASF and Dell, among other clients.
Trump has turned to some of the country's biggest law firms to fill key slots, including Jones Day; Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher; and WilmerHale.
Flush with cash, law firms eye uncertain economy
Law firm Venable hit with $10 mln lawsuit by ex-client in FDA fight
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