Novell's Still Suing Microsoft, And Says it Wants Discovery Now

Novell's Still Suing Microsoft, And Says it Wants Discovery Now

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By Edward F. Moltzen, ChannelWeb

12:55 PM EDT Tue. Mar. 11, 2008

Novell's latest 10-Q quarterly report with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission provides a flashback to its 2004 lawsuit against Microsoft under The Clayton Act, alleging the software giant wrongfully "eliminated competition" from the office productivity space.

At that time, Novell still owned WordPerfect, and brought suit in federal court. In the SEC filing this week, Novell notes that it has been successful in keeping the case alive even though Microsoft has been trying to get it thrown out and is now seeking a review by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Notes Novell: "We intend to oppose the Petition (to go to the U.S. Supreme Court) and proceed with discovery before the trial court." Recent history has shown that Microsoft may have reasons for not being huge fans of the discovery process.

(You can read a copy of Novell's original complaint here. And The Antitrust Law Blog has some background on the recent appeals.)

Novell has been maintaining a love-hate relationship with Microsoft since November 2006, when it reached its historic "interoperability" deal with Microsoft; Novell has seen more than $300 million in revenue as a result of that deal with Microsoft.