A lawsuit filed against an ex-Hewlett-Packard employee by his former employer has added to the mounting tensions between competitors Hewlett-Packard Co. and Oracle Corp. Now, HP has filed a business lawsuit against Oracle in California, claiming that the latter company has breached its contract with HP, and had thereby moved from a partner to a "bitter antagonist."

The legal dispute began last February, when a HP sales executive left the company and took a job with Oracle. HP had been investigating the employee for several months, accusing him of failing to disclose a personal relationship with a subordinate and then securing a 97 percent pay raise for her. When the employee left HP for Oracle, the former company began to suspect that he had taken with him a hard drive containing secret company information. HP soon filed a lawsuit against the employee accusing him of doing just that.

The employee denied the allegations that he had stolen secret information, arguing that the hard drive in question was never in possession. This fact was later confirmed by HP's attorneys. However, the company still maintains that he stored secret company information in some way, although they have not stated exactly how he did so.

In June, HP also filed a separate lawsuit against Oracle, alleging that the company had breached its contract by halting software development for HP servers that use Intel Corp.'s Itanium chip. HP has demanded that Oracle continue to support the Intel chip, reportedly in the interest of customer service.

The dispute between HP and Oracle dates back to August 2010, when HP's former CEO joined Oracle as a co-president. With such a litigious history, it is unlikely that these latest claims will be resolved anytime soon.

Source: Bloomberg, "Ex-HP Executive Sued by Former Employee Says Evidence False," Aaron Ricadela, July 28, 2011