The legal battle between Oracle and SAP has been raging on for three years now, and the most recent update adds one more point to the former’s side of the scoreboard.

In 2008 Oracle sued TomorrowNow, a company that provided support for its software and became an SAP subsidiary when the latter acquired it in 2005, over allegations of unlawfully accessing Oracle servers and downloading its intellectual property.  Today, the unit pled guilty to the criminal charges against it. The case is not closed just yet though, because the agreement will be reviewed by the court on September 14.

A spokesman for SAP confirmed that the software company and the U.S. Department of Justice “worked out an agreement to resolve the matter.” He said his company, which is based in Walldorf, Germany, looks “forward to what we believe is a fair and final resolution,” reports The Wall Street Journal.

This latest update is a good opportunity to look into the other case between Oracle and SAP, currently going on in civil court. The latest news here come from earlier this month, when a judge ruled the sum the German software maker has to pay to its long time competitor in damages will be further reduced to $272 million. A new trial will be set if Oracle does not accept the court’s decision.

The original figure was $1.3 billion, which was then lowered to a compensation ranging between $28 million and $408.7 million and now to $272 million.

This legal clash will leave a mark on SAP’s next quarterly earnings report, but the company’s seeing a lot of growth nevertheless –growth that impacts Oracle’s software revenues. During its last earnings call, SAP reported 35 percent growth in sales across all three of its core markets, North America, Europe and Asia Pasific.