PeopleSoft tweaks lawsuit against Oracle

NEWS PeopleSoft has amended a lawsuit against Oracle that charges its rival's unwelcome acquisition bid was mainly designed to disrupt its business. PeopleSoft, based in Pleasanton, California, expanded the suit to include "extensive new facts about Oracle management's ongoing acts of unfair trade practices, including its efforts to disrupt PeopleSoft's customer relationships", the company said on Tuesday. PeopleSoft initially filed the complaint in California Superior Court in Alameda County on 13 June, a week after Oracle launched its hostile buyout plan for PeopleSoft. The amended suit alleges Oracle deliberately tried to mislead PeopleSoft customers about Oracle's plans to support PeopleSoft products and interfered with customers of JD Edwards, which are soon to be PeopleSoft customers though a recent acquisition. PeopleSoft has also combined two separate complaints against Oracle filed by JD Edwards with its own suit and plans to voluntarily dismiss the suits JD Edwards previously filed in other courts. "PeopleSoft's complaint will continue to seek both injunctive relief and damages, including damage caused to JD Edwards," PeopleSoft said in a statement. Oracle, which recently reaffirmed its $19.50-per-share bid for PeopleSoft, had previously criticised the suits as frivolous and lacking merit. "We were aware they were going to file an amended complaint, so we are not surprised and it does not change our commitment to acquire PeopleSoft," Oracle spokesman Jim Finn said in a statement on Tuesday. PeopleSoft faces a counter suit from Oracle, which seeks removal of PeopleSoft's anti-takeover measures. PeopleSoft management has resisted Oracle's $7.25bn bid, while hastening its own $1.8bn merger agreement with JD Edwards. All three companies compete in the market for business-automation software, which has recently been struck by merger-and-acquisition fever. Oracle's exchange offer, which it's extended three times as it awaits regulatory approval, is set to expire on 19 September. Alorie Gilbert writes for CNET News.com.