A Michigan man has been awarded US$133 million by a Texas jury in a patent dispute against Microsoft Corp. and Autodesk Inc. Microsoft was ordered to pay $115 million and Autodesk $18 million to David Colvin, founder of z4 Technologies Inc. Colvin claimed two of his antipiracy software patents were used in Microsoft's Office and Windows XP software and Autodesk's AutoCAD programs.

Novell buys security vendor in $72M deal

Novell Inc. has purchased e-Security Inc., a maker of security information management and compliance monitoring software, for $72 million. Novell next month will start selling e-Security's Sentinel 5 product, which provides IT organizations with a single, real-time, cross-enterprise view of hacker attacks and other security violations. New versions of Novell's own security software will also ship next month.

IBM revenue drops with sale of PC unit

IBM credited strong sales of its middleware and microelectronics products for a 21 percent gain in first-quarter profit. But the company cited the sale of its PC unit to Lenovo Group Ltd. for a 10 percent decline in first-quarter revenue.