Judge Allows Celonis Antitrust Lawsuit Against SAP to Proceed

U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria in San Francisco permitted Celonis to move forward with allegations of antitrust violations, unfair competition, and false advertising against SAP, while dismissing other portions of the complaint. The ruling stems from a lawsuit filed in March, in which Celonis alleged that SAP abused its dominant position in enterprise resource planning (ERP) software to prevent other companies from accessing data housed within its systems, Reuters reported.

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According to the report, Chhabria rejected SAP’s attempt to dismiss claims that it monopolized the market for access to ERP data but dismissed an accusation that SAP engaged in illegal product tying. The court gave Celonis 14 days to file an amended version of its complaint.

Related: EU Opens Antitrust Investigation Into SAP’s Software Support Practices

Both companies issued statements following the decision. SAP, also headquartered in Germany, said it was pleased that part of the case was dismissed and reiterated that it denies any wrongdoing. “We remain steadfast in our position and will continue to vigorously defend ourselves and our innovations,” the company said. Celonis, meanwhile, hailed the ruling as a major step forward, saying it “greenlighted virtually all of our claims, in a resounding victory.”

Per Reuters, Celonis contends that SAP altered long-standing policies to restrict customers’ ability to extract data from within its ERP applications and even threatened to withdraw support from those who used Celonis software. ERP systems are used by companies to manage payroll, billing, accounting, and other core business processes, while process mining tools like those developed by Celonis help analyze the data generated by these systems.