Utah company wraps up $1B case against Microsoft

Utah company wraps up $1B case against Microsoft

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Closing arguments have begun in a Utah company’s $1 billion antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft Corp.

Provo-based Novell Inc. claims Microsoft was protecting its monopoly when it duped the company into working on a Windows 95-compatible version of its WordPerfect writing application, only to later leave it out.

Microsoft’s Bill Gates has testified in the federal trial in Salt Lake City that Novell showed little interest in pushing WordPerfect and never complained about being left behind.

Novell says it eventually had to sell the program for a $1.2 billion loss.

Company attorneys told jurors today that Gates altered the Windows program to make WordPerfect incompatible, calling it a “purely predatory action.”

The trial started in October.