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Oracle Corp withdrew a $6.7 billion bid for business software maker BEA Systems Inc on Sunday, setting the stage for a proxy battle between activist investor Carl Icahn and the BEA board. Icahn is BEA's biggest shareholder with a 15 percent stake.

Google Inc aims to apply Web search technology to a general set of health information problems and remains committed to the market despite slow initial progress, an executive said on Wednesday.

Business software maker BEA Systems Inc rejected a $6.7 billion takeover bid from Oracle Corp on Friday, throwing the company into play by saying the unsolicited offer was too low. Shares rose 38 percent, above a five-year high.

Oracle Corp on Friday said it offered to buy BEA Systems Inc for about $6.66 billion, its latest effort to up the ante against Microsoft Corp. and Germany's SAP in the fiercely competitive market for business software.

Oracle Corp, the world's third-largest software maker, reported a 25 percent rise in quarterly profit on Thursday, but forecast slower growth in sales of new software in the current quarter.

Acacia Research Corp said its Disc Link Corp unit agreed with Oracle Corp to resolve a pending lawsuit on patents relating to portable storage devices with links that can retrieve added data through the Internet.

German software maker SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) said on Tuesday that one of its units had made “inappropriate” downloads, as the company formally responds in a court filing to a lawsuit by U.S. rival Oracle Corp. (Nasdaq: ORCL).

Software maker SAP AG admitted a subsidiary had carried out inappropriate downloads of documents belonging to archrival Oracle Corp but said on Tuesday SAP itself had not had access to that material.

Oracle Corp. the world's third largest software maker, reported profit that beat Wall Street expectations on Tuesday and gave a positive growth outlook for the current quarter that nudged its shares higher.

SAP will be forced to cannibalise its own customers by offering new software that is delivered over the Web as it adapts to a world irrevocably changed by Google, SAP's chairman said.

Business software company Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL) announced on Friday that it reached an agreement to purchase Tangosol Inc., a provider of in-memory data grid software, a move aimed at boosting its middleware offerings.

Software firm Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL) filed suit against its rival SAP AG on Wednesday, accusing the competitor of stealing intellectual property to offer 'cut-rate' services for its products.

Shares of software maker Oracle Corp. (Nasdaq: ORCL) rose nearly 2 percent in mid-day trading on Wednesday, following strong third quarter results.

Oracle Corp. Chief Executive Larry Ellison showed his notorious competitive streak Tuesday, when the business software maker reported first-quarter profit jumped 29 percent and revenue soared 30 percent.

Oracle announced on Monday that it would invest $125 million in i-flex solutions based in India to fund its growth initiative.

Microsoft is set to transition one of its largest business software suites away from traditional hosting methods to the online arena, pitting its latest offering against entrenched competitors which include Oracle, SAP AG, along with burgeoning Salesforce.com.