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Novell And HIX Reach Supreme Court Agreement HIX to cease illegal importation and distribution of Novell products February 10, 1997 -- In an agreement dated 27th January 1997 Novell SA and HIX Distribution settled their longstanding dispute over the importation and sale of Novell NetWare in South Africa. The agreement follows a summons filed in the Supreme Court of South Africa under reference 3484/96. Novell claimed that HIX had been importing Novell NetWare without its consent and had distributed OEM and Upgrade products without a valid end-user license. The Supreme Court Order prohibits any further trading in breach of Novell's copyright and license agreements. A claim for damages is reserved subject to compliance by HIX to all of the terms and conditions contained in the Court Order. Richard Beytagh, Novell South Africa's General Manager said "HIX have now committed to purchase all of their Novell products from our Authorised Distribution Channel, ensuring that in the future, all customers receive legitimately licensed, fully supported, upgradable products. Beytagh continued "We have always striven to create an environment where the legitimate Channel can compete on a fair and even basis, to the benefit of all of our customers." Steve Mazabow, Managing Director of HIX Distribution said "HIX Distribution is committed to growing its legitimate IntranetWare business. We are happy to comply with Novell's demands to cease the parallel import of Novell products, and are establishing relationships with the Novell S.African Authorised Channel." Martin Smith, Novell's Licensing Manager for Europe, Middle East& Africa said "This agreement signals the end of a lengthy investigation into the business of HIX Distribution by Novell. Novell however will continue to monitor the sale of Novell products by HIX in a series of audits over the coming 12 months. In addition, HIX have agreed to cooperate with our investigations into other companies who are currently distributing Novell products without license." Smith continued "Any company currently involved in this type of illegal activity should be in no doubt, that Novell will not hesitate to enforce it's copyright to the fullest extent of South African law." Anyone wishing to report suspected piracy of Novell products should call the Novell Anti-Piracy toll free hotline in complete confidence on 0800 999 103. Founded in 1983, Novell (NASDAQ:NOVL) is the world's leading provider of network software. The company offers a wide range of network solutions for distributed network, Internet, intranet and small-business markets. Novell education and technical support programs are the most comprehensive in the network computing industry. Information about Novell's complete range of products and services can be accessed on the World Wide Web at http://www.novell.com. Novell is a member of the Business Software Alliance (BSA).
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