Business & Money Trail:

COURT ORDERS BUSINESS OBJECTS PATENT CASE TO TRIAL

In a recent ruling, the San Francisco district court ordered that the Business Objects patent infringement case brought against Cognos proceed to trial. The decision follows a motion brought by Cognos for summary judgment.

The lawsuit filed by Business Objects on May 5, 2000 alleges that Cognos software infringes its United States Patent number 5,555,403 entitled "Relational Database Access System Using Semantically Dynamic Objects."

"It is rare for a patent case to be dismissed by summary judgment and we respect the Court's wish to receive more detail," said Ron Zambonini, Cognos president and chief executive officer. "This lawsuit is without merit. The Business Objects patent is invalid and unenforceable against Cognos. We look forward to proving our case at trial."

About Cognos

Cognos is a leading provider of enterprise business intelligence solutions that optimize the performance of the world's largest and most successful organizations. Founded in 1969, Cognos serves more than 17,000 customers in 120 countries around the world. Cognos business intelligence solutions and services are also available from more than 3,000 worldwide partners and resellers. For more information, visit the Cognos Web site at www.cognos.com.