SAP AG said it pleaded guilty to unspecified charges in a criminal case involving unauthorized access to computers maintained by software rival Oracle Corp.

U.S. Department of Justice prosecutors on Thursday charged SAP's defunct TomorrowNow Inc unit with 11 counts of unauthorized access to an Oracle computer, and one count of criminal copyright infringement, according to a court filing.

We have been working with the DOJ and we have reached an agreement to resolve the matter. With the agreement we now look forward to what we think is a fair and final resolution of the matter, SAP spokesman Jim Dever said by phone.

He declined to give details of the plea agreement.

The charges are the latest in a long-running legal controversy involving SAP and Oracle. Last year a civil jury awarded Oracle $1.3 billion over accusations that SAP subsidiary TomorrowNow wrongfully downloaded millions of Oracle files.

A judge has since reduced that award to $272 million.

A Justice Department representative had no comment on the criminal charges.

(Reporting by Dan Levine and Peter Henderson; Editing by Gary Hill)

Oracle