Action Technologies, Inc. Files for a Preliminary Injunction Against Novell, Inc.'s GroupWise 5.0.ALAMEDA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 23, 1996--Action Technologies, Inc. announced today that in the United States District Court United States District Court In the U.S., any of the 94 trial courts of general jurisdiction in the federal judicial system. Each state, as well as the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, has at least one federal district court. Northern District of California, it filed a motion for a preliminary injunction A temporary order made by a court at the request of one party that prevents the other party from pursuing a particular course of conduct until the conclusion of a trial on the merits. A preliminary injunction is regarded as extraordinary relief. against GroupWise 5.0, a new version of Novell Inc.'s groupware Software that supports multiple users working on related tasks in local and remote networks. Also called "collaborative software," groupware is an evolving concept that is more than just multiuser software which allows access to the same data. product. Action expects the motion to be decided upon during the first quarter of 1997. This motion is part of an ongoing suit filed by Action against Novell on November 16, 1995, which claims that GroupWise infringes one of Action's patents. In a related event, on December 3, 1996, the court handed down an order in which the judge ruled that GroupWise falls within the claims of one of Action's patents. This motion by Action for a preliminary injunction arises out of Novell's expansion of both functionality and supported operating environments In computing, an operating environment is the environment in which users run programs, whether in a command line interface, such as in MS-DOS or the Unix shell, or in a graphical user interface, such as in the Macintosh operating system. for GroupWise, with no apparent regard for the court's ruling that GroupWise is covered by Action's patent. "One of the reasons Novell customers cite for purchasing GroupWise is the Task function which the court found to fall within the claims of one of Action's patents," said Terry McGowan, president and chief executive officer of Action. "To remain competitive against Microsoft Exchange Messaging and groupware software for Windows from Microsoft. Exchange Server is an Internet-compliant e-mail system that runs under Windows NT/2000 and Windows Server 2003. It can be accessed by Web browsers, the Exchange client, versions of Outlook and the earlier Windows Inbox. , Lotus Notes Messaging and groupware software from IBM Lotus that was introduced in 1989 for OS/2 and later expanded to Windows, Mac, Unix, NetWare, AS/400 and S/390. Notes provides e-mail, document sharing, workflow, group discussions and calendaring and scheduling. and Netscape Communicator An earlier suite of Web browsing and groupware tools from Netscape that were packaged as a bundle starting with Navigator 4.0. Communicator refers to any Netscape Navigator product with a version number less than 6.0. , Novell must make GroupWise programmable and extend its operation to the Internet. In doing so however, GroupWise 5.0 dramatically extends the impact of its infringement on Action's patent. "We view this new action by Novell as extremely significant," said McGowan. "Novell has consciously extended the use of the infringing technology from an arena in which Action has historically granted licenses for use of the technology, to an arena in which they compete directly with our core business. We are left with no course of action but to pursue the case as aggressively as possible," concluded McGowan. About Action Technologies Action Technologies, Inc. is the leading provider of Internet/ Intranet and client/server-based work coordination software for business process and workflow automation See workflow. . Action offers complete applications as well as tools for the rapid design, development and deployment of business applications that coordinate work within and between organizations. Headquartered in Alameda, Action sells its products worldwide through a direct sales force as well as through integrators, VARs and distributors in 25 countries. Additional information and product demonstrations are available on Action Technologies, web site at http://www.actiontech.com . -0- Note to Editors: Copyright 1996 Action Technologies, Inc. ActionWorkflow, ActionWorkflow Process Builder, ActionWorkflow Process Manager, are registered trademarks of Action Technologies, Inc. ActionWorks is a trademark of Action Technologies, Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective holders. CONTACT: Action Technologies Sumi SUMI Software Usability Measurement Inventory (measures software quality from the user's point of view) Shohara, 510/748-1045 sumi_shohara@actiontech.com |
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