Looks like Microsoft is back in the crosshairs as Novell drags them into court over allegedly eliminating competition for office productivity applications during the time Novell owned WordPerfect.

Sounds quite probable to me. Besides that, I am willing to bet that MS will opt for an out of court settlement rather than spend a lot of time in court going back and forth with this whole issue. So basically, if I was MS, I would definitely settle.

Novell said it intended to move forward with the lawsuit Monday, when it announced a settlement with Microsoft on other antitrust claims. In that settlement, Microsoft agreed to pay Novell $536 million, and Novell agreed to resolve all antitrust claims relating to Novell’s NetWare product, and any other products it currently owns.

Novell and Microsoft engaged in “extensive” discussions in an attempt to resolve the WordPerfect claims without a lawsuit, according to a Novell press release.

The WordPerfect lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Utah, seeks unspecified damages from Microsoft. Novell’s lawsuit accuses Microsoft of withholding critical technical information about Windows from Novell, thus impairing Novell’s ability to develop new versions of WordPerfect and other Novell office productivity applications. The complaint also alleges that Microsoft integrated technologies into Windows designed to exclude WordPerfect and other Novell applications