Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Intellectual Property Law Blogs -> Groklaw

Intellectual Property Law

: Groklaw

Novell Agrees to be Acquired by AttachMate; Sells Some IP to a MS-Organized Consortium

By Pamela Jones et al.

Novell has sold itself to Attachmate Corporation. There is a side deal selling "certain intellectual property assets" to CPTN Holdings LLC, "a consortium of technology companies organized by Microsoft". SUSE goes to Attachmate, I gather, and will be a separate unit, so what goes to Microsoft's consortium?

No doubt we'll find out in time. It is being reported that what it will get is 882 patents. Blech. But keep in mind that the WordPerfect litigation could be in this picture, and I wonder if this could be a kind of deal to tactfully settle it out, with Microsoft paying to end it this way? Nevertheless, selling any patents to Microsoft is like selling your baby to a pedaphile in the limited sense that you can reasonably predict what it will do with the acquisition.

Novell's CEO is telling "valued customers" in an email that it's a merger agreement, that Novell believes "the transaction is great news for our customers," that all contracts will be honored, and that the IP sale to Linux's sworn enemy "will not impact customers", whatever that means. Not a word about Linux and what it means for SUSE. Not a word to reassure the community. ComputerWorld's Chris Kanaracus has the interesting detail that Elliott Management, the group Novell rejected earlier, will become a shareholder in Attachmate:

Attachmate's offer of $6.10 per share follows the $5.75 a share offer made in March by investment firm Elliott Management Corporation, one of Novell's largest shareholders. Novell rejected that offer. But as part of the deal announced Monday, Elliott is to become an equity shareholder in Attachmate, according to a statement.

So. The vultures won, I gather. Here is the Attachmate statement, so you can decide for yourself. But here's a word from Elliott in that statement:

"Elliott is pleased to have been a major catalyst in this transaction, enabling Novell's shareholders to realize substantial shareholder value," said Jesse A. Cohn, portfolio manager at Elliott Management. "Novell has a robust product set that we believe will create a significant value opportunity as part of the Attachmate Corporation portfolio of products."

A major catalyst. Significant value opportunity. Get the picture?

Full post as published by Groklaw on November 22, 2010 (boomark / email).