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FYI - The following was announced today.

Ron

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SOFTWARE DEVELOPER CALDERA(R) SUES MICROSOFT(R) FOR ANTITRUST PRACTICES
     ALLEGES MONOPOLISTIC ACTS SHUT ITS DR DOS(R) OPERATING SYSTEM
                             OUT OF MARKET

     PROVO, Utah, July 24  -- Caldera, Inc., a Utah-based software
developer, said today it has filed an antitrust lawsuit against
Microsoft(R) Corp. seeking treble damages, as well an injunction to halt
"illegal conduct by Microsoft calculated and intended to prevent and
destroy competition in the computer software industry."
    The lawsuit, filed late Tuesday in the U.S. District Court in Salt
Lake City, echoes many of the charges made by the U.S. Department of
Justice in its 1994 antitrust complaint against Microsoft, including
violations of the Sherman Act.  In the complaint, Caldera states that
Microsoft's anticompetitive conduct includes unfair pricing practices
and license agreements, as well as false statements and "vaporware"
announcements intended to dissuade consumers from purchasing products in
competition with Microsoft's MS-DOS(R) software.
    "Unless restrained by order of this court, Microsoft will
permanently destroy competition in the DOS Market in the microcomputer
software industry, and Caldera will be artificially and illegally
prevented from realizing the full financial potential of the DOS
Business," the complaint says.
    Caldera, which designs, develops and markets system software
products, today acquired the DR DOS(R) operating system and DR DOS-
related assets, including this claim, from Novell(R), Inc.
    Raymond J. Noorda, former chief executive officer of Novell, Inc.,
is the majority owner of Caldera.  In 1991, while Mr. Noorda was CEO of
Novell, that company purchased Digital Research Inc.(R) (DRI),
developers of the DR DOS software technologies.
    According to the lawsuit, Microsoft's practices "have had the effect
of excluding competitors [including DR DOS] from the DOS Market, a
market in which Microsoft has monopoly power."  The lawsuit continues,
"as a direct and proximate result of [Microsoft's] predatory acts and
practices, the DR DOS business which Caldera has acquired is being and
will continue to be immediately and irreparably injured through.. the
loss of profits ... sales ... market presence ... [and] market share
that might otherwise have been achieved in a freely competitive market,"
as well as "the substantial reduction in the value of the DR DOS
business assets."
    Caldera's lawsuit states, "As outlined in the Justice Department's
complaint, through various unfair and predatory acts, Microsoft has
willfully maintained a monopoly of the market for MS-DOS operating
systems software and functionally equivalent operating system software."
    According to the Justice Department complaint, "Microsoft's
exclusionary contracting practices have had the effect of excluding
competitors on a basis other than competition on the merits and have
thereby allowed Microsoft illegally to perpetuate its monopoly in the PC
operating system market.  Through the unlawful acts and practices
described ... [in the antitrust action], Microsoft has harmed
competition, consumers and innovation..."
    Microsoft settled the U.S. government's charges against it by
signing a consent decree in 1994.  In the consent decree, Microsoft
neither admitted nor denied guilt, but did agree to end certain
practices, including so-called per-processor license agreements, certain
multi-year license agreements and highly restrictive confidentiality
agreements with software developers who create programs to work with MS-
DOS and Windows.
    Stephen D. Susman, of Susman Godfrey in Houston, one of the law
firms representing Caldera, said, "It is my belief, from reading the
government's antitrust complaint against Microsoft, that it recognized
the need to open the market to Microsoft competitors."
    Mr. Susman added, "It is our intention to finish the job the Justice
Department left unfinished when it settled its antitrust complaint
through a consent decree."
    Microsoft's "conduct has had a direct, substantial and adverse
effect on competition by raising barriers to entry to competing DOS
Software, foreclosing competition with Microsoft on the basis of price
and performance, and stifling innovation," the complaint says.  "Buyers
of PCs and software have thus been forced to pay higher prices for less
innovative, inferior products."
    Caldera's lawsuit, in addition to asking for treble damages,
pursuant to the Clayton Act, seeks permanent injunctive relief:

    * "Requiring that defendant Microsoft hereinafter refrain from the
       use of per-processor licenses on MS-DOS or any other operating
       system software that is competitive with, or an intended
       replacement for, DOS Software, including Windows 95 and Windows
       NT."

    * "Requiring that defendant Microsoft hereinafter refrain from
       licensing practices and pricing policies which have the purpose
       and effect of causing exclusive dealing."

    * "Requiring Microsoft, for a period of ten years, to disclose to
       Caldera all APIs [programming instructions] for any operating
       system it produces, as well as any modifications, enhancements,
       updates, or new versions of such operating systems at the time
       that such products are released for beta testing."

    * "Prohibiting Microsoft from including code in any software
       products that has the sole or primary purpose of creating real or
       perceived incompatibility between Microsoft's products and
       Caldera's products."

    * "As may be reasonably necessary or appropriate to eliminate the
       effects of Microsoft's violations of the antitrust laws and to
       restore effective competition in the computer software industry."


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frank@sazza.ruhr.de   
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