novell

Finally. After years of to-ing and fro-ing from the courtroom, a U.S. judge has ended a lawsuit that reaches back as far as the launch of Windows 95.

Following an eight-week trial ending in December with a hung jury, Novell was pressing for close to $1 billion in damages for antitrust violations committed by Microsoft while Microsoft founder Bill Gates was still at the helm.

But today,  U.S. District Judge Frederick Motz ruled that Novell can no longer pursue the case against Microsoft.

In the ruling, Motz wrote:

"Although Novell presented evidence from which a jury … Read more

The free Kindle app for Android is a rock-solid e-reader option that seamlessly ties to your Amazon account. It may not have many bells or whistles, but it does its job well, and can easily reach into Amazon.com's enormous library of downloadable works.

The app opens up directly into your Kindle library, which shows all of the books tied to your account. If you want to expand your library, you can tap the Kindle Store button on the top right and sift through Amazon.com's catalog of books, magazines, and newspapers. And thanks to a recent update, … Read more

The purchase of a number of Nortel Networks patents by a partnership that includes Apple, Microsoft, and Research In Motion has passed antitrust scrutiny, the U.S. Department of Justice said today.

The DOJ's antitrust division came to the same conclusion on Apple's planned acquisition of certain Novell patents, and of Google's purchase of Motorola Mobility Holdings, according to this statement:

After a thorough review of the proposed transactions, the Antitrust Division has determined that each acquisition is unlikely to substantially lessen competition and has closed these three investigations. In all of the transactions, the division conducted … Read more

A federal judge declared a mistrial in Novell's antitrust suit against Microsoft after jurors told the court they could not reach a verdict.

Novell filed the case in 2004, alleging that Microsoft, while developing Windows 95, promised to support Novell's WordPerfect and Quattro Pro products, but held back key technical information required to make them compatible with Windows 95. Novell sought more than $1 billion in damages as a result of Microsoft's alleged anticompetitive behavior.

The jury trial, which lasted two months, saw Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates travel to the Salt Lake City courtroom to testify. According … Read more

Bill Gates is scheduled to take the stand today in a Novell-versus-Microsoft antitrust case whose origins stretch back as far as 1995.

Launched in 2004 by Novell, the lawsuit alleges that Microsoft used anti-competitive tactics to hurt Novell's WordPerfect and Quattro Pro products by holding back key technical information required to make them compatible with Windows 95. Novell claims that Microsoft initially promised its support for the two applications but then pulled back to combat any potential competition against Microsoft Office.

In its suit filed in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City, Novell is seeking $1.2 … Read more

Holy e-comic clash, Batman!

Amazon, apparently in an effort to add muscle to its recently unmasked Kindle Fire tablet, sparked a real-world fight over superhero comic books when it inked a deal with DC Comics for the exclusive digital rights to a hundred popular graphic novels, including Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, the Sandman, and Watchmen.

That arrangement apparently did not sit too well with rival bookseller Barnes & Noble, which has an e-book reader it would like to see flourish. In response to DC's deal, Barnes & Noble removed the physical copies of the titles from its store shelves, … Read more

Rather than ignore an attack by Google's legal boss saying that it has conspired against the company in patent wars, Microsoft is ratcheting up the nastiness.

And Google is firing back, turning the discussion of patent strategy into a he said-she said battle of blog posts and tweets.

The software giant's top public relations executive took to Twitter last night to refute claims laid out by Google Chief Legal Officer David Drummond that Microsoft is conspiring with Apple and others to keep patents away from the Web giant. Frank X. Shaw released an October e-mail from Google General Counsel Kent Walker to his counterpart at Microsoft, Brad Smith, cordially declining Microsoft's offer to jointly bid on patents from Novell.

In the e-mail, Walker writes, "After talking with people here, it sounds as though for various reasons a joint bid wouldn't be advisable for us on this one. But I appreciate your flagging it, and we're open to discussing other similar opportunities in the future."… Read more

Microsoft has again extended its server system interoperability pact with Suse, almost five years after the original deal was struck between the software maker and Novell, the company behind Suse at the time.

The new extension, announced yesterday, will run until January 1, 2016. It again sees Microsoft commit to shelling out $100 million for Suse Linux Enterprise certificates, much as the last extension did in August 2008. The certificates will be used to buy support for Microsoft's enterprise customers who are running Suse Linux. It is not clear how much of the $100 million payment agreed upon in … Read more

Attachmate's $2.2 billion takeover of open-source software company Novell has gone through, after gaining regulatory clearance.

According to a statement from Attachmate yesterday, Novell will operate as two separate businesses--Novell and Suse--alongside the Attachmate and NetIQ brands under the umbrella of the Attachmate Group.

The takeover was first announced in November 2010. As part of the deal, Novell is selling off 882 open-source patents--not including Novell's Unix patents--to a consortium called CPTN Holdings, which includes Microsoft, Apple, EMC, and Oracle.

Read more of "Attachmate finalises Novell takeover" at ZDNet UK.