Oracle's battle began in June last year when it submitted an offer to buy rival firm PeopleSoft. At the time the bid was largely seen as a spoiler to prevent PeopleSoft amicably acquiring another player in the market, JD Edwards.
That acquisition went ahead, but Oracle has stuck to its plans to buy PeopleSoft, despite lawsuits filed against it by PeopleSoft, JD Edwards and the State of Connecticut. Antitrust investigations by the Department of Justice and the European Commission were also instigated.
The Commission has been investigating the takeover since October, and launched a more detailed inquiry in November, expressing concern that if the deal goes ahead, SAP of Germany will become Oracle's only major competitor in the market for enterprise software.
An Oracle spokesman yesterday expressed confidence that, when his company has made its case, the Commission "will see how competitive this business truly is".