Borland accuses MS of poaching

Software developer brings lawsuit as key employees move to Microsoft

Loss-making PC software developer Borland has slapped a lawsuit on Microsoft, alleging that the software giant has poached staff unfairly by offering them limousines, extended sabbaticals and huge signing-on cheques.

According to the suit, filed in California Superior Court in Santa Clara, Microsoft has deliberately targeted 34 key members of the Borland development and marketing team over the past 30 months in a bid to stop the company pulling off a financial turnaround. Borland lost $108 million in the fiscal year ended 31 March, pinning recovery hopes on moving into the enterprise market.

Delbert Yocam, Borland CEO, said: ?Many companies in our industry are afraid of Microsoft ? Borland is not afraid.? He added that the company should have taken a stand earlier, before his appointment six months ago.

?We are losing key employees to a major competitor, employees going to that company in exactly the same positions as they have at Borland. I have a problem with that.?

The highest profile defection was Paul Gross, formerly Borland VP of R&D, now Micro- soft VP of developer tools.

Yocam told employees: ?I don?t fault Borland employees. I know each of you has your own career goals, whether they are inside Borland or outside. What I object to is the systematic targeting of Borland employees as a competitive weapon. ?

A Microsoft representative said Yocam?s claims had no merit, noting that the company had hired 2,000 people in the past nine months and still had 2,000 unfilled positions.