WordPerfect Antitrust Suit V. Microsoft Is Finished

An antitrust lawsuit that goes back to 1994 has apparently breathed its last, as the Supreme Court this week declined to hear an appeal from Novell, WordPerfect’s former owner. WordPerfect at one point had about half the word processing market and was the software of choice for many lawyers and law departments. Novell claimed that Microsoft withheld crucial Windows technical information in order to thwart competitors to its product, Word. The district court judge who originally heard the case, which was based in part on a smoking gun memo from Bill Gates, said Microsoft’s “aggressive conduct” didn’t reach the level of an antitrust infraction.