Novell Sued Microsoft Through Caldera?

cheesedog writes "The intrigue increases: According to this article in the Salt Lake Tribune, the secret terms of the sale of DR-DOS to Caldera included the provision that Caldera would have to sue Microsoft (for Novell by proxy) over the OS and that they would have to do so without revealing Novell's hand in it. Did Novell indirectly create a monster? Caldera's 300 million winnings against Microsoft are now being used to fund lawsuits against Linux (and Novell)."

Comments

Kinda like the U.S.

[Anonymous Coward]

The US funds Saddam Hussein against war with Iran. Saddam and the US later go to war. (Twice.)

The US funds the Afghans against the Russian army. The Afghans later turn all kooky and "kinda" go to war with the US.

I think that this corporate thing just reaches to the roots of the problems in American society -- one person "helping" another by fuelling their hatred against a third party, only to have it backfire on them.

Re:Kinda like the U.S.

[Anonymous Coward]

And don't forget it was the CIA who trained Osama Bin Laden, too.

Re:Kinda like the U.S.

[Anonymous Coward]

I think that this corporate thing just reaches to the roots of the problems in American society

Oh come on. As if the entire concept of expedience was invented by Americans!?!? As if this sort of thing hadn't happened over and over and over again since the dawn of recorded human history? As if it isn't happening right now in the European Union? In the Arab world? All over Africa? At the local PTA?

If you want to indulge in self-flagellation for human flaws, at least have the decency to do it in the name of the human race, instead of blaming it on America.

Re:Kinda like the U.S.

[Maudib]

I will just add a couple of examples. Lets start with the British East India company in India. They touinely hired Various Indian Princes to attack and eliminate rival princes, again and again. Each time pilfering the target, then attacking the attacker with another proxy and plundering him.

All the major european countries issued letters of mark to independent vessels, licensing them to pirate other nations, while keeping their hands clean.

Lets see, to keep things fair a good non-european example would probably be... shit. Ah got it. Shit, you know the Chinese and Japanese did this sort of shit all the time. Just cant think of any good non-european examples.

DAMN YOU EURO CENTRIC HISTORY EDUCATION!

Re:Kinda like the U.S.

[Maudib]

Wait, just came up with a good Asian example for this. The Chinese have historically used Pakistan as a proxy and counter balance to India, even fanning the flames to cause wars like I think they did in 73. Arming them, etc. I guess they also sort of did the same thing against us for a while with North Korea.

OH WAIT!!!! ANOTHER AWESOME EXAMPLE! hehe. Syria, Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia with the Palestinians against Israel. These guys constantly encourage non palestinians to encourage hostilities with Israel. I mean Hamas is just an offshoot of Islamic Jihad which was started by the Egyptians.

Oh of course, I forgot. The Saudis and Iranians (Iran especially) do it with terrorists against U.S. civilians. They have been doing it since the Iranian revolution in the 80s.

So yeah, proxy war aint exactly an american thing or even a european thing. Im pretty sure even the Iroquis Nation had a couple of smaller tribes they used for proxy war against other tribes.

Re:Kinda like the U.S.

[Tiro]

I think your argument could have legs. U.S. foreign policy and economic policy share the same problem--no long-term focus, only short-term bandage fixes.

This is why our industrial output fell behind Germany and Japan in 1970, and this is why we keep making a show of attacking small countries that pose no direct risk [Vietnam, Iraq]. Emmanuel Todd makes a more complete argument of this American failing in After the Empire

[unfortunately he doesn't quite explicate all the social mechanisms completely, but many insightful points].

In terms of the software sector, if these companies would spend more time innovating [like Apple or GNU] rather than forcing out the competition [Microsoft] or litigating [Novell & Caldera] then the long-term outlook for U.S. industry, including software exports would be more robust.

Re:Kinda like the U.S.

[William Tanksley]

I wonder how all the peace mongers would react if Hitler (the original, not some barely literate moron with a Texan accent) was alive today. You'd probably just let him be (unless he was American or Israeli.)

Don't spend too much energy wondering -- just read history to find a confirmation of your suspicions. The overwhelming sentiment in America before Pearl Harbor was antiwar; Americans saw Hitler as just another cruel, powerhungry dictator on a landmass full of cruel, powerhungry dictators. They weren't interested in entering yet another expensive war to help a group of nations that were still engaged in avoiding repayment for WWI debts. Charles Lindbergh wrote in this vein; his work is interesting.

He changed after Pearl Harbor, though. Almost the entire nation did.

-Billy

Your enemy's enemy...

[actiondan]

Your enemy's enemy is potentially someone who will sneak up behind you when you least expect it and stab you in the back.

Seems quite a few people need to learn that lesson.

Dan.

Not a $300 million monster.

[David Hume]

Did Novell indirectly create a monster? Caldera's 300 million winnings against Microsoft are now being used to fund lawsuits against Linux (and Novell).

Actually, no. A portion (and I suspect a very significant portion) of Caldera's $300 million winnings against Microsoft went to Novell. That is the entire point of Novell's current lawsuit against Caldera. From the linked Salt Lake Tribune article, "Novell wins breach-of-contract dispute with Canopy Group":

Novell also was to receive a cut of any lawsuit awards in the form of so-called "royalties."

* * *

When Canopy prevailed against Microsoft and received the settlement, it tried to first deduct its attorney fees, court costs and other expenses, the judges found. Novell, believing its still-undisclosed cut of the award should have come on the gross amount, sued for breach of contract.

As stated in paragraph 5 of the opinion of the Utah Court of Appeals in Novell, Inc. v. The Canopy Group, Inc. (see also here):

To accomplish this, Novell and Canopy executed two separate documents: the first was a contract of sale, obligating Canopy to pay $400,000 for rights to the source code; the second was a temporary license obligating Canopy to pay $600,000 in license fees and "royalties." The royalties included provisions for payment to Novell of a percentage of any recoveries from lawsuits.

Novell may have created a monster, but not a $300 million monster. Indeed, Novell received some undisclosed portion of Caldera's recovery against Microsoft, which Novell can now use to battle... Caldera.

Re:headline

[dourk]

Of course Novell did it. The way I read the article, Novell is suing because they didn't get a big enough of the cut.

How could they sue without admitting to being the masterminds behind the deal?

Re:Novell found guilty

[CaptainFrito]

"innocent until proven guilty" is missing one word in front of it and that word is "presumed".

The overwhelming majority are innocent. Thus the presumption is based, not on some act of misplaced kindness that permits wealthy and influential to escape justice, but a simple acknowledgment of the true fact. Such injustice happens by other means. The presumption of innocence allows people to exist without be harrassed in the absence of reasonable evidence to the contrary.

And you are flat wrong about the government, anyway. The government prosecutes as a direct result of their presumption of guilt based on its unproven evidence. The Law, and not the government, presumes innocence. It is always a scary thing when people confuse government with law, even scarier when they equate the two.

But perhaps most frightening of all is when poeple confuse law with morality and uprightness. These are independent concepts, and as with intergalactic comets, only rarely do they meet each other.

Re:He said she said.

[Monkelectric]

I really actually like Novell more after this. MS fucked them and they knew it, and they also knew that to retaliate against MS would mean their end. This is not an "Novell is evil" story, this is a "Microsot is so evil that even when we KNOW they are in the wrong we can't do anything because they can destroy us" story. Look how they wiggled out of monoply stuff as strong as ever, and don't seem to be acting any differently.

Re:Novell found guilty

[drinkypoo]

The purpose of the law is to uphold morality and, if not uprightness, at least rightness. If that's even a word, anyway. Morality is different and so the law is meant to steer a course that takes it through the average. As a result of our bunglings along these lines, both those who believe in the sanctity of all life and those who believe in none of it are frustrated, but that's life in the big city.

The politicians dream up the laws, the lawyers write them, more politicians decide if we should live by them, and we can gradually swing the system around by firing or hiring the occasional politician. You should be voting for people who share your morality as best you can, or else you're going to end up living by someone else's.