SAP and Teradata Antitrust Case

Teradata alleged a decade-long campaign of trade secret misappropriation, copyright infringement, and antitrust violations by SAP, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on June 20, 2018. Teradata further claimed that SAP developed and released Hana by misappropriating Teradata’s intellectual property. (Source: Teradata)

Detailed allegations

In its official statement, Teradata further detailed these claims:

“SAP has engaged in a decade-long campaign of anti-competitive behavior, to the detriment of the parties’ customers and Teradata alike. SAP lured Teradata into a purported joint venture in order to gain access to Teradata’s valuable intellectual property. SAP’s purpose for the joint venture was to steal Teradata’s trade secrets, developed over the course of four decades, and use them to quickly develop and introduce a competing though inferior product, SAP Hana. Upon release of SAP Hana, SAP promptly terminated the joint venture, and SAP is now attempting to coerce its customers into using Hana only, to the exclusion of Teradata.”

“Teradata supports competition and innovation in the data and analytics space. SAP’s conduct, however, is neither pro-competitive nor innovative. We believe seeking relief through legal action against SAP is a necessary step to protect the rights and interests of our shareholders and all of our other stakeholders, including our customers.”

Case timeline

The legal proceedings have continued since then. According to SAP’s official disclosures in the SAP Half-Year Report 2025, under Intellectual-Property-Related Litigation and Claims, SAP has outlined the following series of events in the court proceedings:

“In 2019, SAP asserted patent infringement counterclaims against Teradata seeking monetary damages and injunctive relief. In 2020, Teradata initiated a second civil lawsuit against SAP asserting patent infringement, seeking monetary damages and injunctive relief; in February 2021, SAP filed patent infringement counterclaims against Teradata in this second U.S. lawsuit and a civil lawsuit against Teradata in Germany asserting patent infringement, seeking monetary damages and injunctive relief.

“All claims between the parties were dismissed in November 2021 after the district court issued a summary judgment decision in SAP’s favor on Teradata’s antitrust and trade secret claims. Teradata appealed the district court’s summary judgment decision. In December 2024, the U.S. Appeals Court granted Teradata’s appeal and ordered that the case be returned to the district court for further proceedings, including trial on Teradata’s antitrust and trade secret claims. During the first half of 2025, the case was set for trial in April 2026.“ (Source: SAP) SAP)

While the claims differ from those put forward by Teradata, the European Commission has also opened an investigation into SAP for anticompetitive practices in 2025. It remains to be seen in 2026 how these particular legal procedures will develop.

Source: Teradata