Novell agrees to settle with Microsoft

NEW YORK: Novell Inc. said that it had reached a settlement with software maker Microsoft Corp. in which Microsoft will pay it $536 million in cash, sending Novell shares 11 percent higher in pre-open trading.

In addition, Novell said it planned to file a new antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft tied to decade-old competitive practices involving Novell's WordPerfect word processing software.

The agreed-upon cash settlement involved antitrust litigation related to Novell's NetWare network operating software, which Novell once positioned as a potential competitor to Microsoft Windows operating systems software.