Andre Yoskowitz
19 May 2010 1:24
Microsoft has sued Salesforce.com this week, claiming the company has been actively infringing on nine of the software giant's patents.
The complaint is significant as it targets patents relating to customer-relationship management (CRM), which is the bread and butter of SalesForce's business.
Microsoft is seeking for an injunction on the features used in SF's software that infringes on the their patents.
Salesforce, which launched in 1999, "sells subscriptions to Internet business software that runs marketing campaigns and tracks sales leads." The company is in direct competition with Microsoft's Dynamics program in the CRM market.
"More and more, we’re seeing Dynamics compete with Salesforce in deals," adds Ray Wang, an analyst with Altimeter Group. "Long term, Salesforce and Microsoft are on a collision course for all enterprise software."
Salesforce had about $1.3 billion in sales last year.
Responds the CRM company: "The resolution of this claim is not expected to have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, but it could be material to the net income or cash flows or both of a particular quarter."