Novell, MS squabble over Wordperfect

SEATTLE: Novell Inc. sued Microsoft Corp., claiming that the world's largest software maker used its Windows monopoly to hurt sales of the WordPerfect processing program, which the smaller rival owned briefly a decade ago.

Novell, which settled its antitrust claims against Microsoft earlier this week for $536 million, had already said it was planning to file the lawsuit over WordPerfect, which it owned between 1994 and 1996.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Utah, did not specify damages.

Microsoft said in a statement that WordPerfect's popularity in the market had already started to decline before it was bought by Novell and that the statue of limitations had already expired over Novell's claims regarding WordPerfect.

"Through this lawsuit, Novell seeks to blame Microsoft for its own mismanagement and poor business decisions," Microsoft said in an e-mailed statement, "The record is clear that bad decisions and business mistakes are the reasons WordPerfect fell out of favor with consumers."

Novell said that after merging with WordPerfect Corp. in 1994 and buying Quattro Pro, a spreadsheet program, those products had a combined value of $1 billion. Novell said it later sold that business to Corel Corp. in March 1996 for $170 million.

"While this lawsuit is unrelated to Novell's current business, the claims are important and hold considerable value for Novell," Joseph LaSala, Novell's general counsel, said in a statement.

Novell said that Microsoft withheld technical information, made changes to Windows to cripple WordPerfect and pressured personal computers not to offer the rival product.

Novell shares closed at $7.15, down 5 cents, while Microsoft shares fell 1 cent to $29.97, both on the Nasdaq.