Actually not the case (and I'm not sure it ever was). We were under this misapprehension for while too.

You're allowed to have a development database to "create one prototype" with a very loose description of what that is. It also "limits the use ... to one person .. and one server". As for testing - "all programs used in a test environment must be licensed".

http://www.oracle.com/us/corporate/pricing/databaselicensing...