Novell To Keep Unix Copyrights

Novell has issued a brief statement dispelling fears that Microsoft might gain control of important Unix copyrights, as the company merges into Attachmate.

Novell announced on 22 November, that it will be bought for $2.2 billion (£1.4bn) by system management company Attachmate, but concerns were raised by news that a Microsoft-backed consortium would get 882 patents, and other intellectual property, for $450 million (280m), given that Novell owns the rights to Unix, an operating system with a crucial place in the open source family tree.

Patents still unknown

“Novell will continue to own Novell’s UNIX copyrights following completion of the merger as a subsidiary of Attachmate,” said a post on Novell’s site.

No official news has been announced on which patents and IP are being sold to the Microsoft-backed consortium, but some people have said they will largely relate to WordPerfect, a former competitor to Microsoft Office. The sale would thus settle some long-running litigation between Microsoft and Novell.

The fate of many Novell products is in the balance, and is expected to remain unclear for at least a week according to sources.