A Hewlett Packard lawsuit against Oracle is a publicity stunt designed to blame Oracle for disruption that will happen when HP's Itanium chip-based server business comes to an end, Oracle said in a court filing.

Oracle decided in March to discontinue its support for Itanium, a heavy-duty computing microprocessor, saying Intel Corp made it clear that the chip was nearing the end of its life and the company's focus was on its x86 microprocessor.

HP has dubbed Oracle's decision as anti-customer behavior. The company sued Oracle in a California state court earlier this month.

In a court filing posted on Oracle's website on Wednesday, Oracle accused Intel of perpetuating a myth that there is a 10-year roadmap for Itanium development, rather than telling customers that it would be phased out.

Now HP is suing Oracle for the temerity to tell customers the truth, Oracle said in the filing.

HP representatives did not respond to a request for comment.

The case in the Superior Court of the State of California, County of Santa Clara, is Hewlett-Packard Company v. Oracle Corporation, 11-CV-203163.

(Reporting by Dan Levine. Editing by Robert MacMillan)

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