Itanium: Jury Rules Oracle Must Pay HP $3 Billion… But…

Forgive me if I'm a bit confused. But here's the situation: Oracle Corp. was ordered by a jury to pay Hewlett Packard $3 billion after finding Oracle failed to comply with a 2012 court order to support HP's Itanium chip, Bloomberg says.

Oracle said it will appeal the verdict. But let's say -- hypothetically - -the database giant loses the appeal. Would Oracle write a $3 billion check to HP Inc. or Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)? After all, the former HP split into two companies in 2015.

I'm guessing the $3 billion check would be mailed to HPE. But frankly I'm not sure.

Itanium: HP vs Oracle Jury Ruling

And while I'm no legal expert I'm surprised by the ruling.

Itanium, a 64-bit chip co-developed by HP and Intel, never lived up to its early hype. Intel was forced to change course when customers demanded 64-bit performance that had complete backwards support (i.e., investment protection) for 32-bit applications. The net result: Itanium was limited to extremely high end, next-generation applications.

Update: Sources have now confirmed that Larry Ellison will pay HP Enterprise (not HP Inc.) if Oracle loses the appeal...