Lone holdout deadlocks jury in 2-month Novell-Microsoft trial

SALT LAKE CITY — One juror kept Novell Inc. from exacting as much as $1.3 billion from one-time rival Microsoft Corp. for alleged antitrust violations.

Corbyn Alvey, a 21-year-old security guard, was the lone holdout who deadlocked the 12-person jury after three days of deliberations in the complex, two-month trial in federal court.

"I walk away feeling honestly myself, and I can't speak for the other jurors, that I made the right decision even if it resulted in a hung jury," he told the Deseret News Friday. "There were so many inferences that needed to be drawn that I felt that it was unfair to Microsoft to go out on a limb and say yes."

A yes vote would have been enough for Novell to prove that Microsoft violated antitrust laws during the development of Windows 95, putting Novell's newly acquired WordPerfect word processing software at a competitive disadvantage and allowing Microsoft to gain a monopoly in the PC operating systems market.

Novell sought $1.3 billion in compensation. Whether the seven-woman, five-man jury would have awarded any damages isn't known. According to Microsoft attorneys who spoke to jurors privately afterward, five of them would not have awarded Novell anything had it prevailed.

Both sides presented the jury hundreds of pages of emails, memos and corporate documents to make their cases along with 126 hours of witness testimony, including two days from Microsoft founder Bill Gates just before Thanksgiving.

When word of a deadlock filtered through the courtroom, lawyers and U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz discussed letting jurors think about it over the weekend.

"We spent millions of dollars on this case," Novell attorney Jeff Johnson told the judge. "Give us one more day."

Jury foreman Carl Banks said he tried hard to get a verdict. He handed the court a note reading, "I am sorry, very sorry we cannot come to one accord. I've done the best I know how."

At least two jurors were in tears as Motz dismissed the panel.

"It was a tough case. It was long and it was hard and it was grueling," an emotional Banks said afterward. "We gave it our best shot."

"We've been two and a half months now. We've been away from our families, we've been away from everything, and we're just tired and want to be done with it," added juror Barbara Frazier.