SAP, one of the largest business application and enterprise software providers in the world, has admitted to corporate espionage. 

Oracle Systems, a competitor in the burgeoning corporate database market, filed suit against SAP earlier this year claiming the company obtained secret Oracle  product information which SAP used to entice new customers.

Today SAP [admitted][1] that it obtained Oracle documents through TomorrowNow -- a Texas-based customer support unit SAP purchased in 2005 -- but SAP maintains that it did not have access to Oracle's intellectual property.

Oracle claims that TomorrowNow accessed Oracle's information by using the login info from defecting customers and then the company went on to concealed its real identity by using fake phone numbers and bogus e-mail addresses such as the ever popular, test@testyomamma.com.

Oracle also alleges that SAP violated its intellectual property rights by copying code and claiming it as its own.

While SAP has admitted the wrongdoing, the lawsuit and feud between the two shows no signs of abating.


[1]: http://news.wired.com/dynamic/stories/G/GERMANY_SAP_ORACLE?SITE=WIRE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT