OTTAWA, ON, May 27, 2002—Cognos (Nasdaq: COGN; TSE: CSN), the world leader in business intelligence (BI), today announced a settlement in the pending patent litigation by Business Objects (Nasdaq: BOBJ). The settlement agreement dismisses a lawsuit filed by Business Objects on May 5, 2000 alleging that Cognos® Impromptu® software infringes its United States Patent number 5,555,403.

Under the terms of this agreement, Business Objects releases Cognos for any alleged infringement of this patent. In addition, both Cognos and Business Objects have agreed to a five-year moratorium on patent litigation between the two companies. To obtain this settlement, Cognos has agreed to pay Business Objects a sum of $24.0 million consisting of a $10.0 million up front payment and quarterly payments of $1.75 million over the next two years. The agreement specifically reaffirms that Cognos makes no admission regarding the validity, enforceability or infringement of any patent.

"We stand firm in our position that the Business Objects patent is invalid and unenforceable against Cognos," said Ron Zambonini, Cognos chief executive officer. "However, despite our strong views, we felt that the opportunity to settle was best for our business during a time of great business momentum and opportunity for Cognos. By resolving this matter now, we avoid the distraction of continued litigation and eliminate the risk of an uncertain jury verdict and any subsequent appeals. The after tax present value cash impact of this settlement is less than $17 million. We are very pleased to have this issue behind us and now look forward to devoting all of our time and efforts towards continuing to deliver the world's leading business intelligence solutions to our customers."

As this settlement was concluded prior to the issuance of Cognos' fiscal 2002 financial statements, it is required by generally accepted accounting principles to record the impact of this settlement in fiscal 2002. Accordingly, Cognos will include a special charge of $23.2 million reflecting the present value of the agreed upon settlement payments as a year-end adjustment to its previously announced fiscal 2002 financials. As a result, previously announced earnings before tax of $51.4 million have been adjusted to $28.2 million, earnings after tax of $36.2 million have been adjusted to $19.4 million and fully diluted earnings per share of $0.40 have been adjusted to $0.21.

The charges associated with this settlement will not have any material impact on Cognos financial results for the current fiscal year ending February 28, 2003. Cognos reiterates the guidance for the first quarter and full fiscal year 2003 as discussed during its investor call conducted on April 10, 2002.

Cognos has scheduled a conference call to discuss the details of the settlement at 8:30 a.m. ET, May 28, 2002. The conference call may be accessed at 877-211-2399. The Webcast may be accessed at http://www.cognos.com/company/investor/events/052802.html.

This news release contains forward-looking statements concerning the benefits to the Corporation of having resolved this litigation and its expectations concerning its future financial performance and continuing business momentum. These forward-looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees, but involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Factors that may cause such differences include, but are not limited to, our ability to continue to meet revenue and other financial performance goals; delays in, or other adverse effects on, the development, introduction, shipment and market acceptance of our software products resulting from the settlement terms and our ability to protect our intellectual property; volatility of the financial markets in response to the settlement terms, failure of actual operating results to meet our market expectations; changes in financial estimates by securities analysts; general market fluctuations unrelated to the operating performance of the Corporation or the high technology sector; and other risks detailed under the heading "Certain Factors That May Affect Future Results" in the Company's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Readers should not place any undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. The Corporation disclaims any obligation to publicly update or revise any such statement to reflect any change in its expectations or in events, conditions, or circumstances on which any such statements may be based, or that may affect the likelihood that actual results will differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements.