Yet more adventures in court for Novel

NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: DAVE KEARNS ON NOVELL NETWARE TIPS
06/21/05
Today's focus: Yet more adventures in court for Novell

Dear networking.world@gmail.com,

In this issue:

* Judge dismisses four of Novell's claims against Microsoft;
  lets two go forward
* Links related to Novell NetWare Tips
* Featured reader resource
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Today's focus: Yet more adventures in court for Novell

By Dave Kearns

Is the glass half empty or half full? Nowhere was this better
illustrated than in the news stories about Novell's adventures
in court last week. U.S. District Judge Frederick Motz ruled on
motions in the company's suit against Microsoft concerning
Novell's anti-trust claims related to its ownership of
WordPerfect between June 1994 and March 1996.

Novell's suit alleged six different claims. Judge Motz allowed
two to go forward while dismissing four. Generally, in a suit
such as this, the plaintiff (i.e., Novell) will put forward as
many claims as possible knowing that some, if not most, will be
dismissed so the ruling wasn't a surprise to the company - nor
should it have been a surprise to Microsoft. But editors had a
field day creating headlines to accompany the mostly
straightforward news stories:

* "Judge OKs Novell's Case Against Microsoft" (LA Times)
* "Novell Rejected In Court Against Microsoft" (WebProNews)
* "Novell's Microsoft antitrust action OK'd" (The Register)
* "Judge Throws Out Half of Novell-MS Suit" (eWeek) - [note, the
  headline doesn't contain the right math - the judge actually
  dismissed two-thirds of the claims]
* "Ruling bolsters Novell suit" (Salt Lake Tribune)
* "Blow to Novell's Microsoft battle" (Australian IT)

So was this a victory for Novell, or a stinging defeat?

Microsoft had sought outright dismissal of the suit based on two
major facts:
1) Novell no longer owns WordPerfect.
2) The Department of Justice didn't allege that Microsoft had a
monopoly in the office productive applications market.

The judge agreed that no monopoly in the office productivity
category was ever alleged or proved, but did allow that the
office productivity component could have been used to strengthen
Microsoft's hold on the operating system market, which was an
illegal monopoly. The first argument seems even more strange, as
Novell certainly did own WordPerfect at the time of the alleged
improper actions.

It does look, to me at least, as if Novell has a long way to go
to prove that Microsoft intentionally damaged its Windows
implementation of WordPerfect (see "Why Novell's assertion that
Microsoft killed WordPerfect has no legs,"
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlnovell2728> ). In all the
testimony and documents uncovered in the Justice Department's
anti-trust case against Microsoft there was nothing which
implicated Bill Gates & Co. in illegal (or anti-competitive)
activity vs. WordPerfect so it's hard to imagine anything new
coming to light at this late date - more than 10 years after the
alleged activity occurred.

Let's just hope this wild goose chase doesn't tie up too many
resources at Novell.

RELATED EDITORIAL LINKS

Judge throws out parts of Novell lawsuit
IDG News Service, 06/13/05
http://www.networkworld.com/nlnovell2729
_______________________________________________________________
To contact: Dave Kearns

Dave Kearns is a writer and consultant in Silicon Valley. He's
written a number of books including the (sadly) now out of print
"Peter Norton's Complete Guide to Networks." His musings can be
found at Virtual Quill <http://www.vquill.com/>.

Kearns is the author of three Network World Newsletters: Windows
Networking Tips, Novell NetWare Tips, and Identity Management.
Comments about these newsletters should be sent to him at these

respective addresses: <mailto:windows@vquill.com>,
<mailto:netware@vquill.com>, <mailto:identity@vquill.com>.

Kearns provides content services to network vendors: books,
manuals, white papers, lectures and seminars, marketing,
technical marketing and support documents. Virtual Quill
provides "words to sell by..." Find out more by e-mail at
<mailto:info@vquill.com>
_______________________________________________________________
This newsletter is sponsored by Good Technology
Network World Executive Guide: Wireless Security. New Standards
make it easier than ever

As wireless LAN technology reaches the mainstream of enterprise
IT, security continues to be the top barrier to adoption. In
this report, we detail the possible approaches to wireless LAN
security and talk to experts who provide analysis and
recommendations on which ones to use. Register today and get a
free copy of Network World's Wireless Security Executive Guide.
http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=107070
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ARCHIVE LINKS

Archive of the Novell NetWare Tips newsletter:
http://www.networkworld.com/newsletters/netware/index.html

Novell news page:
http://www.networkworld.com/news/financial/novell.html
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