The federal judge who\u2019s been minding Novell\u2019s billion-dollar WordPerfect antitrust suit threw out its remaining claims Monday theoretically bringing the generation-old dispute dating to Windows 95 and the reign of Bill Gates to an end.
\nNovell however says it\u2019s going to appeal the bench ruling granting Microsoft\u2019s motion to dismiss as a matter of law.
\nAn eight-week trial in December ended in a hung jury of 11 to one in favor of Novell.
\nJudge Frederick Motz said in his decision that \u201cAlthough 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 Section 2 [of the Sherman Antitrust Act] in maintaining its monopoly in the operating systems market.\u201d <\/p>\n