Antitrust Argument Against Oracle Won't Be an Easy Sell

Connecticut's attorney general got the market's attention when he announced his intention to file an antitrust suit against Oracle (ORCL Quote) on Wednesday. But he'd better enjoy it while he can. Making the case stick won't be easy.

"It sounds as though Connecticut's criticism is that, as a customer, the successor to his supplier is not as desirable as the one he has now. That's a fair concern for a customer to raise, but it's not an antitrust issue. It's a matter of contract rights," said Emmett Stanton, an antitrust specialist and partner in the Silicon Valley law firm of Fenwick & West.

State officials said an Oracle takeover of PeopleSoft (PSFT Quote) would create an "enormous and expensive upheaval" of Connecticut's ongoing conversion of its computer system, known as Core-CT. The $100 million conversion is based on software purchased from PeopleSoft under a five-year contract signed in 2002. ...