Celonis defends SAP lawsuit before skeptical US judge

Process intelligence firm Celonis defended its lawsuit against SAP before a US judge who expressed skepticism about the plaintiff’s antitrust allegations this week. That said, Judge Chhabria admitted he was struggling to decide on SAP’s Motion to Dismiss Celonis’ claims as the dispute between the two firms continues to play out.

Celonis presented its position as outlined in its updated complaint and Chhabria pressed SAP’s counsel on key elements of the case. Chhabria’s ruling is expected in the coming weeks.

Last week, the European Union (EU) launched an investigation into potential anticompetitive practices by SAP.

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Why is Celonis suing SAP?

In March, Celonis claimed that SAP has “deliberately sought to exploit its market power” over its large, entrenched enterprise resource planning (ERP) customer base by imposing new policies and restrictions in an attempt to destroy Celonis’ business.

Celonis also accused SAP of engaging in increasingly egregious conduct targeting its customers to coerce them into using Signavio, SAP’s own process mining offering. Celonis sought an injunction prohibiting SAP’s “illegal conduct,” monetary damages and all other legal and equitable relief available under law.

In June, a US court partially dismissed Celonis’ antitrust claims against SAP. In July, Celonis filed an updated complaint, which SAP then moved to dismiss.

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Celonis defends SAP lawsuit

In the wake of the Motion to Dismiss hearing, a Celonis spokesperson said: “We appreciated the opportunity to present our position as outlined in our updated complaint and welcomed Judge Chhabria’s questions to SAP’s counsel regarding key elements of our case – including SAP’s alleged monopolization, pricing policies and organized campaign to undermine Celonis.”

Celonis remains confident in merits of its position and expects the discovery process to yield even further evidence of SAP’s “egregious and unlawful attempts to dominate the process mining market and stifle competition,” they said. “As we await Judge Chhabria’s ruling, we remain committed to ensuring our customers retain their right to work with the technology providers of their choice and that the market remains fair, transparent and open to innovation.”

SAP says it is no longer pushing customers into the cloud

Commenting on the latest developments in the case, finance leader Christoph Ahr highlighted an “interesting statement” from SAP’s lead counsel. “Most customers are actually staying on-premises. RISE has nothing to do with that – it’s just a package for those who decide to move to the cloud.” (JonesDay).

With that claim, SAP sought to neutralize the core antitrust allegation: that it is forcing Signavio (its process mining product) inextricably into ERP/cloud migrations, Ahr stated. “The implied message: there is no market pressure, no mandatory cloud migration, no tying.”

Ahr argued that SAP’s position “rings hollow” because it is “doing precisely the opposite.” While the courtroom posture is “stay on-prem if you like,” the corporate strategy and product lifecycle decisions point unmistakably toward gradual sunsetting of on-prem, he said.

“In short: SAP is positioning itself as a cloud company that offers sovereignty, control and compliance – not as a company endorsing perpetual on-prem use,” he added. “Either SAP has quietly reversed its public cloud strategy – or its courtroom posture deliberately understates the real pressures and constraints built into its product roadmap.”

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