German judge halts Siebel attack ads

Siebel Systems has been ordered to stop a German advertising campaign that is critical of rival software maker SAP. Germany-based SAP said in a statement on Tuesday that the Frankfurt District Court granted it an injunction halting the Siebel ad campaign. The ad campaign and subsequent legal fight highlight an ever-increasing battle between the two companies to dominate the market for customer relationship management (CRM) software. Carol Burch, SAP's senior vice president for CRM, said the company was pleased with the injunction and called Siebel's ad campaign "unfair and desperate," adding that both companies should concentrate on serving customers. Siebel said Wednesday that SAP got the court to rule in its favor "without a hearing or a discussion of the facts." --Larry Dignan, Special to ZDNet News