With the trial in the high-profile trade secrets case involving Oracle and SAP scheduled to begin in the Oakland courthouse on Monday, Hewlett-Packard (HP) has yet to specify whether its incoming CEO Leo Apotheker – who is a former SAP chief – will testify in the case.

Though, as of now, the commencement of the five-week trial in the SAP-Oracle case coincides with Apotheker’s first day as the new HP chief executive, HP has not confirmed whether Apotheker will assume his new job responsibilities according to earlier plans.

While HP said that it does not release schedules for its executives, Apotheker had said earlier this month that in the “following weeks and even months” he would likely travel the world to interact with HP employees.

Meanwhile, in a Tuesday statement, the Oracle CEO Larry Ellison noted that Apotheker was involved with a corporate-espionage scheme and had actually overseen the theft of Oracle’ software. Ellison also voiced the apprehension that HP’s board probably planned to keep Apotheker away from the company’s Palo Alto headquarters till the completion of the trial.

Saying that Ellison’s facts about Apotheker were incorrect, SAP spokesman Saswato Das defended HP and added: “In his personal campaign against HP and desire to create a sideshow, Larry Ellison doesn't even bother to get the facts straight. Our focus in the case is on determining fair and reasonable compensation, and we won't let personal vendettas interfere with the court's judgment.”