Judge Stewart has denied Novell's Motion in Limine No. 7, saying that the motion is "essentially one for partial summary judgment and, as such, is untimely." He also says they can bring their issues up in jury instructions. That was SCO's argument, which has been adopted wholesale. But I think it's a bit of sleight of hand to say it's a matter for summary judgment.

Hall agreed to serve pro bono publico (at no charge, for the public benefit), and asked the court for a declaratory judgment that the patent was unenforceable. Katzer responded by bringing a SLAPP suit against Jacobsen. SLAPP is a law that was meant to defend little folks sued by big rich companies, but is increasingly used in just the other direction.

Microsoft and Amazon.com have signed a wide-ranging patent cross-licensing agreement that provides each company with access to the other's patent portfolio. Specific terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but it was made clear that Amazon will be paying Microsoft an undisclosed amount of money as part of the arrangement.

The parties have filed their proposed voir dire questions, the
questions each party would like potential jurors to be asked when trying to find the jurors who will hear and decide SCO v. Novell. Here's a definition of voir dire, and here's a very good explanation from ABA of the voir dire process and why some feel voir dire is more important than the trial itself.

Amazon.com has signed a patent agreement with Microsoft over the use of Linux in its Kindle e-readers. In other open source legal news, the Jacobsen v. Katzer model railroad software case was settled, providing precedent for open source developers to seek monetary damages for copyright infringement, says BetaNews.

It's a big win for open source -- or is it? I'm talking about the Jacobsen v. Katzer dispute about open source code violation.

I have Chris Brown's initial report from the SCO v. Novell final pretrial hearing today, and he'll send more details later. There are lots of interesting tidbits already.