Use of Third-Party Applications to access SAP Licensed Software

James Lau, Chief Legal Officer, NatSteel Holdings Pte. Ltd., A TATA Enterprise, Singapore

I would like to disclose at the outset that NatSteel® Holdings Pte. Ltd. and its holding-parent company, TATA® Steel Limited, are both users and licensees of one or more software of SAP AG (hereinafter referred to as ’SAP Licensed Software”). Having said that, the material in this article on the use of third-party applications to access SAP Licensed Software based on the English case of SAP UK Limited v Diageo Great Britain Limited [2017] EWHC 189 (Technology and Construction Court) (unreported) , (hereinafter referred to as ’SAP v Diageo”); a decision of Dame Finola Mary O’Farrell J. delivered on 16 February 2017, as well as SAP AG’s recently announced SAP ERP Pricing for the Digital Age—Addressing Indirect/Digital Access on 10 April 2018 has bearing on all companies who are using third-party applications to access SAP Licensed Software.

James Lau Chief Legal Officer with 24 years both contentious and non-contentious international cross-border transactional and dispute-resolution experience acquired through a combination of private practice at industry-leading law firms and in-house roles at Fortune 500 Multinational Corporations.

NatSteel Holdings is well-known Singapore subsidiary of Tata Steel Limited, a Fortune 500 Company. TATA Group’s total revenue in fiscal year 2015-2016 was USD103.51 billion, of which 67.3% was from outside India. Its key companies are Tata Communications Services Limited, Tata Motors Limited (of which Land Rover and Jaguar are part), Tata Power Limited and Tata Steel Limited.