A US District Judge J. Frederick Motz granted Microsoft’s motion to close a case long-running antitrust case Novell had filed against the software giant.
The judge ruled Novell cannot continue to pursue the case filed in 2004 that alleged Microsoft while developing Windows 95 in 1994 violated antitrust laws that led to loss of WordPerfect market share of the word-processing market.
"Although Novell presented evidence from which a jury could have found that Microsoft engaged in aggressive conduct, perhaps to monopolize or attempt to monopolize the applications market, it did not present evidence sufficient for a jury to find that Microsoft committed any acts that violated in maintaining its monopoly in the operating systems market," Motz stated in the ruling.
Novel, which sued Microsoft for $1bn in damages, claimed WordPerfect’s share dropped from 50% in 1990 to less than 10% in 1996.
In May 2011, an appeals court revived Novell’s antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft, but jurors in Salt Lake City could not come to an accord and a mistrial was declared in December.
Novell said, ""While Novell is disappointed with Judge Frederick Motz’s ruling, Novell still believes in the strength of its claim and we do intend to pursue an appeal."
Novell was acquired last April by Attachmate Group, the Houston-based privately-held software holding company.
In a statement, Microsoft said, "We’ve maintained throughout this case that Novell’s arguments lack merit, and we’re gratified with today’s ruling dismissing the last of Novell’s claims and putting this matter to rest."
