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Borland, Microsoft settle
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September 19, 1997: 5:40 p.m. ET
Companies resolve legal spat over recruitment of employees
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Borland International Inc. Friday said it and Microsoft Corp. have settled a lawsuit Borland filed in May accusing the software giant of unfair competition.
Both companies refused to disclose the details of the settlement and said they would be making no other comment except to confirm the settlement.
"We believe this settlement is in the best interest of our companies. This settlement resolves any legal questions surrounding the lawsuit and allows both companies to move forward," the companies said in a joint statement.
In May, Borland filed the lawsuit in California Superior Court, charging that Microsoft recruited and hired Borland employees specifically to damage Borland's ability to compete with Microsoft in the development tools market and to slow the company's financial turnaround.
Borland originally sought unspecified financial damages and an agreement that Microsoft would no longer target Borland employees.
The original lawsuit charged that Microsoft had pursued Borland's top software architects, engineers and marketing managers in an attempt to put it out of business. Borland said many of the employees lured away by Microsoft held roles there that mirrored their responsibilities at Borland.
The settlement comes as Borland is trying to return to sustained profitability and expand its product line to include several tools designed for the corporate environment.
Earlier this week, Borland released a new, Java-based product, Jbuilder, that analysts say could speed its recovery. JBuilder helps programmers write software in Java. Many of the programs used to communicate on the Internet and in corporate intranets rely heavily on Java.
Analysts say that while the market for Java-based programs and tools that help harness the language is still maturing, it will accelerate once the technology is able to accomplish more ambitious goals.
Borland also faces lots of competition in the Java arena. Java inventor Sun Microsystems, Symantec and Microsoft each plan their own expanded Java development tool suites.
In its fiscal year ended March 31, Borland lost $108 million, or $2.96 a share, on revenues of $151.4 million. Last year - its only profitable year out of the past five - it earned $14.7 million, or 40 cents a share, on revenues of $245.1 million.
--Cyrus Afzali
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