The violation occurred when Oracle ran an advertisement in The Wall Street Journal and The Economist claiming that “Sun + Oracle is Faster” compared to a published TPC-C performance result from IBM. Oracle’s claim that it is faster than IBM using a TPC-C benchmark result it claimed would be announced on October 14 was not supported because Oracle did not have a TPC result at the time of publication.

The TCP group define transaction processing and database benchmarks, used as a source of information about product performance. Member companies agree to follow rules about how they can use TPC data in publicity. Members, including Oracle, Microsoft, Intel, HP, AMD and others pay $15,000 a year to be part of the group.

The TPC letter to Oracle cited an advertisement that Oracle ran in the Wall Street Journal and the Economist claiming that a combined system from Oracle and Sun will be faster than a system from IBM, based on TPC benchmark figures. Oracle said the benchmark results would be made available on 14 October.

The TPC requires that claims based on TPC Benchmarks must be demonstrable using publicly available data from official TPC Benchmark Results. The Oracle advertising appeared in printed material and on Oracle’s web pages beginning August 27, 2009 and claimed an undefined Oracle and Sun Microsystems (JAVA) solution was superior to the published IBM benchmark result.

Oracle has not submitted any current evidence to the TPC to sustain this claimed result. Oracle has been directed to cease publication of the advertisement in print or online. Oracle, as a member of the TPC, is obligated to follow TPC policies.

The mission of the TPC is to define transaction processing and database benchmarks and to disseminate objective, verifiable TPC performance data to the industry. The TPC’s fair use rules are designed to encourage fair competition.

Oracle has been asked not to run the ad again and to remove a website that the ad pointed to. The site, at www.oracle.com/sunoraclefaster, is no longer accessible.