hurricanemaxi
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 Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2011 9:52 am Post subject: Hung Jury Ends Microsoft, Novell WordPerfect Trial |
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The jury vote was 11-1 in favor of Novell
Former WordPerfect owner Novell lost out on as much as $1.3 billion last week when jurors involved in its antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft had deadlocked after much deliberation.
Novell sued Microsoft in 2004 claiming that the Windows maker had manipulated its Windows 95 operating system to be incompatible with Novell's WordPerfect and Quattro Pro programs in an effort to boost its own version of the programs. Microsoft allegedly restricted outside programmers from accessing programming code needed to run Novell's software correctly.
Novell sought a maximum of $1.3 billion in damages. According to Novell, WordPerfect's share of the word-processing market dropped from 50 percent in 1990 to less than 10 percent in 1996. Also, its value fell from $1.2 billion in 1994 to $170 million in 1996.
U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz originally dismissed Novell’s lawsuit against Microsoft, but the U.S. Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia reinstated it.
The trial, which began October 18, ended last week after a 12-member jury panel was unable to reach a unanimous verdict. They deliberated for three days, and Motz then dismissed them. The jury vote was 11-1 in favor of Novell.
According to reports, there was one juror that had an especially difficult time, and stuck to his guns in favor of Microsoft. Motz asked both Microsoft and Novell lawyers if they'd accept anything other than a unanimous vote, and Microsoft's lawyers declined.
"We are disappointed," said Jim Jardine, a Microsoft attorney. "We hoped to get a verdict. But we are confident. This jury was a very diligent jury, and there are other steps that we can do to move forward."
According to Jim Lundberg, Novell's attorney, Novell will likely seek a retrial.
"We are hoping that in retrial, although it is technically complicated, that we can convince a jury that Novell's claims are valid," said Lundberg.
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