On the same day the Burlington e-commerce software maker announced a new release it hoped would help it recapture market share lost over the past two years, three law firms filed class action suits against it in federal court.

Open Market spent yesterday plugging its new offering, "Portal Now," which offers a complete set of services (software applications, consulting and Web hosting) for businesses hoping to set up set up online marketplaces.

If the company was hoping for a stock bounce, its timing was terrible. Yesterday law firms Bernard M. Gross in Philadelphia, Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach in New York and Cauley & Geller in Boca Raton, Fla., spent the day filing suits in Boston's U.S. District Court.

All three suits allege that Open Market issued false or misleading statements between Nov. 8 and April 18 about its ability to deliver upgraded software that would boost its status in the competitive field of e-commerce software makers. Such statements, the suits allege, artificially boosted OMKT's price and defrauded investors.

Open Market issued a statement this afternoon saying that it "believes it has meritorious defenses to the lawsuits and intends to defend them vigorously."

The 6-year-old Burlington company is among those Net firms that suffered the most precipitous declines as the Nasdaq went south in March and April. Between March 9 and April 24 OMKT shares plunged 88 percent, from 65.5 to 7.875.

Beyond general sector weakness, most of Open Market's losses came around the time the firm posted weaker first quarter earnings than Wall Street analysts had anticipated, losing 11 cents a share instead of a predicted 7 cents a share. Investment firms followed with stock downgrades, depressing the stock price further.

Since then OMKT has recovered a bit. In mid-day trading the stock was down 2, or 11.4 percent, to 15.5.

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Milberg Weiss' complaint paints a picture of a company that, by the fall of 1999, had slipped from the lead in the e-commerce software marketplace -- losing market share, acknowledging a bad merger when it sold a company (Folio Corp.) it had bought early in 1997, and having cut staff by 20 percent in 1998.

In October Open Market completed the acquisition of software firm FutureTense and sought to reposition itself as an enabler of e-commerce storefronts. It has spent much time since then blending the two companies' businesses and product offerings.

The Milberg Weiss complaint describes the company as "under tremendous pressure" to develop a new product and shore up its market position. In November, the suit alleges, "defendants reacted to this pressure with a drumbeat of upbeat statements" that executives "knew were materially false and misleading"-- specifically that the firm would release new software before Dec. 31, 1999, that would "reinforce the company as a market leader."

On Nov. 8, the suits report, CEO Gary Eichhorn said in an interview with the Wall Street Transcript, "We believe we've got the right solutions and we're gearing up to take advantage of what we think will be phenomenal growth opportunity over the next few years." The Cauley & Geller suit alleges that the company "knew, or recklessly disregarded" that the statement was false, evidenced in part by the firm posting operating losses and losing market share over the next two quarters.

In December Open Market launched Golden Gate, a new software package that integrated its e-commerce management software with FutureTense's content management product.

The Cauley & Geller suit reports that on Dec. 7 Open Market said Golden Gate would allow it to compete with larger industry rivals and that the firm "would continue to lead the e-commerce markeplace." The suit claims that company officials knew Golden Gate was still early in its development stage and that competitors had superior products on the market.

In early January Ron Matros, FutureTense's former chief executive, was promoted from chief operating officer to CEO, replacing Eichhorn, who retired.

From Nov. 8 to Mar. 9, OMKT shares almost tripled, from 22 to 65.375.

Milberg Weiss' complaint also names as individual defendents Matros, Eichhorn, Chairman Shikhar Ghosh and former vice president of marketing Jeff Bussgang, who the suit says resigned Jan. 6. In February, the suit alleges, Bussgang sold 40,000 shares for more than $2 million; Matros sold 35,000 shares for $1.784 million; and Ghosh sold 250,000 shares for $13.18 million.

The actions are pending in Boston's U.S. District Court.