Novell has filed a Notice of Filing of Offer of Proof Regarding Prior Inconsistent Declaration of Steven Sabbath. It is making a record that SCO was allowed to present testimony in direct examination that Novell knew was contradicted by deposition testimony, but then Novell couldn't tell the jury about it, because of rulings by the judge. I gather Novell has noticed what you have, that the judge's ruling was not fair to Novell.So they are making a record, listing very thoroughly why the deposition is allowable under the rules, how they would have used it to rebut SCO's witnesses, and precisely how the materials are contradictory. This may be related to the discussion we heard about yesterday, where it was discussed if Ms. Madsen would have to return. It surely will be part of any appeal, should it prove necessary. But the judge can simply change his ruling, solving the issue.
Here's the Novell filing:
03/15/2010 - 801 - NOTICE OF FILING of Offer of Proof Regarding Prior Inconsistent Declaration of Steven Sabbath filed by Defendant Novell, Inc.. (Attachments: # 1 Attachment-Novell Trial Ex. Y23)(Brennan, Sterling) (Entered: 03/15/2010)
I have never seen that happen before, where you are not allowed to impeach a witness by referring to a prior deposition where the witness said something very different from what he says on the witness stand. Here's what our reporter, Chris Brown, says happened yesterday:
Mr. Jacobs asks Ms. Madsen if she's aware that Mr. Sabbath made a deposition statement directly contradicting her? Objection by Mr. Normand. Mr. Jacobs told the judge that it was his understanding that statements outside the courtroom could be used to impeach the witness. Mr. Normand, it was his understanding no. Objection sustained....
Mr. Jacobs asks for a sidebar to discuss recalling Ms. Madsen in the future. They do so. Afterwards Judge Stewart asks Mr. Normand if he has anything more for her and he says no. Judge Stewart then asks Ms. Madsen about what inconvenience it would be calling her again. She indicated she has two children missing school and an infant in the hall. She said her employer would not be happy with her coming back. Judge Stewart says she would not be called for a number of days and she can return to California, but that she can likely expect to be called back.
Mr. Normand than asks for another sidebar to discuss further after having heard her responses. They do so again. The judge then asks her if she has a flight at 3pm today? Yes. He asks her to stay around but it'll at least be by 1:30pm....
[Steve Sabbath testifies.] Judge Stewart then called a 20-minute break.
After returning, and before the Jury was brought back in, there were more discussions. Judge Stewart said that he read as much as he could during the break of Mr. Sabbath's declaration and said that on its own it rebuts Ms. Madsen and he sees no need to bring her back. Mr. Jacobs wishes to do so in front of the jury and read paragraphs from his declaration that include his contradictions.
Mr. Jacobs states that Mr. Sabbath had the declaration in front of him during his deposition and referred to it. Therefore the jury should be able to see that document as it would be in court.
Judge Stewart asks doesn't Novell have him saying as much verbally during the deposition? Mr. Jacobs admits that they did not have him read his declaration aloud during the deposition. Judge Stewart says Novell may not read it aloud to the jury and that he's not going to make up for what counsel failed to do during the deposition....
[Darl McBride testified.] Then, after the jury had departed, he remained to discuss issues. Novell to file something (motion? declaration?) regarding declaration of Steve Sabath. It seemed it was something of a formality to get something on the record. Here is the filing, with the only change being I didn't chop up the charts with page numbering.
********************************************
Sterling A. Brennan (Utah State Bar No. 10060; E-mail
David R. Wright (Utah State Bar No. 5164: E-mail)
Kirk R. Harris (Utah State Bar No. 10221; E-mail)
Cara J. Baldwin (Utah State Bar No. 11863; E-mail)
[address, phone, fax]
MORRISON & FOERSTER LLP
Michael A. Jacobs (Admitted Pro Hac Vice; E-mail)
Eric M. Acker (Admitted Pro Hac Vice; E-mail)
Grant L. Kim (Admitted Pro Hac Vice; E-Mail)
Daniel P. Muino (Admitted Pro Hac Vice; E-Mail)
[address, phone, fax]
Attorneys for Defendant and Counterclaim-Plaintiff Novell, Inc.
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
DISTRICT OF UTAH, CENTRAL DIVISION
THE SCO GROUP, INC., a Delaware
corporation,
vs.
NOVELL, INC., a Delaware corporation,
Defendant.
___________________
Case No. 2:04 CV00139
NOVELL'S OFFER OF PROOF
REGARDING PRIOR INCONSISTENT
DECLARATION OF STEVEN
. SABBATH
Judge Ted Stewart
______________________
On March 15, 2010, SCO called as a witness Kimberlee Madsen, a paralegal working for
Steven M. Sabbath at the Santa Cruz Operation ("Santa Cruz") in 1995 and 1996. SCO was
permitted on direct examination to question Ms. Madsen as to whether several out-of-court
statements in documents of which she was not the author comported with her understanding of
the transaction between Santa Cruz and Novell in 1995. However, Novell was not permitted on
cross examination to question Ms. Madsen as to whether statements made under penalty of
perjury in a declaration of Mr. Sabbath, her superior in 1995, comported with her understanding
of the same transaction.
Novell also intended to read to the jury portions of Mr. Sabbath's declaration during the
playing of his videotaped deposition testimony. These portions are prior inconsistent statements
that impeach the videotaped testimony of Mr. Sabbath that was displayed by SCO.
Pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 103(a)(2), Novell makes this offer of proof
regarding the December 22, 2003 declaration of Steven M. Sabbath, marked as Novell Ex. Y23
and attached for reference, setting forth the evidence the jury would have heard had Novell been
permitted to proceed as set out above. The statements at issue within Mr. Sabbath's December
22, 2003 declaration are admissible under Federal Rule of Evidence 801(c) as, consistent with
the Court's holding allowing similar questioning by SCO, the statements would not have been
used with respect to Ms. Madsen's testimony to establish the truth of the matters asserted, but to
establish her understanding of the transaction between Santa Cruz and Novell, thus they are not
hearsay. The portions of Mr. Sabbath's 2003 declaration that Novell intended to read to the jury
during the playing of Mr. Sabbath's videotaped deposition testimony are admissible as non-hearsay under Federal Rule of Evidence 801(d)(1)(A), as Mr. Sabbath unequivocally lays the
foundation for the declaration in his deposition, the declaration is flatly inconsistent with the
very deposition testimony presented by SCO to the jury, and the declaration was given under
oath subject to penalty of perjury.
1
A. Testimony of Kimberlee Madsen
On direct examination, SCO was permitted to repeatedly question Ms. Madsen regarding
the content of out-of-court statements that she did not draft. These documents were all accepted
into evidence and published to the jury. Ms. Madsen was asked whether various statements
within these documents comported with her understanding of the 1995 transaction between Santa
Cruz and Novell.
By the same token, Novell intended to ask Ms. Madsen questions regarding the content of
the declaration of Steven M. Sabbath. Mirroring SCO's direct examination, Novell would have
asked Ms. Madsen whether various statements within Mr. Sabbath's declaration comported with
her understanding of the 1995 transaction. Used for this purpose, the statements are not hearsay
under Federal Rule of Evidence 801(c). As of 1995, Mr. Sabbath had roughly fifteen years more
experience in the legal industry than did Ms. Madsen. Mr. Sabbath was the General Counsel of
the company at which Ms. Madsen was a paralegal. Mr. Sabbath was Ms. Madsen's direct
superior, including in the very transaction at issue. If the question "does this statement comport
with your understanding" is relevant as posed by SCO regarding out-of-court statements in legal
and regulatory filings not drafted by Ms. Madsen, certainly the same question as posed by Novell
regarding statements made under penalty of perjury by Ms. Madsen's direct superior in the
transaction at issue is relevant.
If Novell had been permitted to question Ms. Madsen consistent with what was permitted
of SCO on direct examination, Novell would have cross-examined Ms. Madsen regarding the
following statements in Mr. Sabbath's declaration, each of which is relevant to challenge a
particular area of Ms. Madsen's understanding to which she testified.
2
|
Area of Madsen Testimony | Ex. Y23 Portion Novell Intended to Use in
Cross-Examination |
|
Santa Cruz acquired UNIX and UnixWare businesses. | "Initially, Santa Cruz was interested in
purchasing both of [the UNIX and UnixWare]
businesses. However, the royalty stream
associated with the UNIX System V software
licensing business led to a total valuation for
both businesses that Santa Cruz could not
afford. Therefore, Santa Cruz proposed that
Novell retain the legacy UNIX System V
licensing business and Santa Cruz purchase
only the UnixWare business. Under this
proposal, Santa Cruz would administer the
collection of royalties under the UNIX System
V license agreements and pass through these
royalties to Novell for a fee."
(Ex. Y23 ¶ 10). |
|
Santa Cruz acquired all right, title, and interest, including copyrights. | "Under the Asset Purchase Agreement, Novell
retained significant UNIX-related assets
following the sale. For example, Schedule 1.1(b) of the asset purchase agreement provided that much of the UNIX System V intellectual property would not be transferred to Santa Cruz by listing the following items as "Excluded Assets": V. Intellectual Property: A. All copyrights and trademarks, except for the trademarks UNIX and UnixWare. B. All Patents."
(Ex. Y23 ¶ 11). "It is my understanding, based upon my review
of Plaintiff's amended complaint, that Plaintiff
claims to have acquired all right, title and
interest in and to UNIX System V operating
system source code, software and sublicensing
agreements, together with copyrights,
additional licensing rights in and to UNIX
System V, and claims against all parties
breaching such agreements. I understand that
Plaintiff also claims to control the right of all
UNIX vendors to use and distribute UNIX
System V. I believe that these claims are
incorrect. As described above in relation to the
Related Agreements and Amendment No. 2,
Novell retained certain rights under the UNIX
System V licensing agreements, as well as
certain UNIX System V intellectual property as
described above."
(Ex. Y23 ¶ 29). |
|
Section 4.16B must be read in a more limited fashion than its plain language dictates in light of the intent of the agreement. | "Although Amendment No. 1 made several
changes to Section 4.16, it did not impose any
new limits on Novell's ability, at its sole
discretion, to amend, modify, supplement or
waive any rights under, or assign any rights to,
the legacy UNIX System V license agreements
in any manner or respect. Furthermore, I am
not aware of any provision in the Asset
Purchase Agreement, or any amendment
thereto, that imposed on Novell any obligation
to preserve the confidentiality of the UNIX
System V source code for the benefit of Santa
Cruz."
(Ex. Y23 ¶ 13). |
|
Copyrights were required for the business and essential to the transaction. | "As discussed above, the fundamental business
deal reflected in the Asset Purchase Agreement
was that Santa Cruz would acquire Novell's
UnixWare business and Novell would
effectively retain the legacy UNIX System V
licensing business. My understanding was that
the language in Amendment No. 2 quoted
above was intended to implement this business
deal with respect to copyrights and trademarks.
So far as I know, neither Santa Cruz nor
Novell ever identified the specific copyrights
or trademarks for which a transfer of
ownership was `required' for Santa Cruz to
exercise its rights with respect to the
acquisition of UNIX and UnixWare
technologies. I do not know whether Novell
ever executed an instrument of assignment to
transfer ownership of specific copyrights or
trademarks to Santa Cruz, nor do I know
whether such an instrument was required in
order to effect the transfer."
(Novell Ex. Y23 ¶ 26).
"I believe that Santa Cruz assigned little, if
any, of the value of the acquisition to any
copyrights that it might have acquired from
Novell."
(Novell Ex. Y23 ¶ 28). |
5
B. Testimony of Steven Sabbath
In addition to its questioning of Ms. Madsen as detailed above, Novell intended to read to
the jury portions of the 2003 declaration of Mr. Sabbath as prior inconsistent statements to
impeach the videotaped deposition testimony that was shown to the jury by SCO. Used for this
purpose, the statements are not hearsay under Federal Rule of Evidence 801(d)(1)(A). ¶¶ 10, 11,
12, 13, 23, 26, 28, and 29 of the attached Novell Ex. Y23 would have been read to the jury. Each
of these paragraphs was stated in a declaration by Mr. Sabbath under penalty of perjury and
directly conflicts with the videotaped deposition testimony of Mr. Sabbath presented to the jury
by SCO.
|
Sabbath Deposition Testimony Displayed by SCO | Ex. Y23 Portion Novell Intended to Use to
Impeach |
"We were buying the entire business, including the intellectual property."
(Sabbath 2-12-07 20:5-9)
"[C]opyrights were going with the assets."
(Sabbath 2-12-07 24:24). |
"Santa Cruz proposed that Novell retain the
legacy UNIX System V licensing business and
Santa Cruz purchase only the UnixWare
business." (Ex. Y23 ¶ 10).
"Under the Asset Purchase Agreement, Novell
retained significant UNIX related assets
following the sale. For example, Schedule
1.1(b) of the Asset Purchase Agreement provided that much of the UNIX System V intellectual property would not be transferred to Santa Cruz...."(Ex. Y23 ¶ 11). "It is my understanding...that Plaintiff claims to have acquired all right, title and interest in and to UNIX System V operating system source code, software and sublicensing agreements, together with copyrights,
additional licensing rights in and to UNIX
System V, and claims against all parties
breaching such agreements. I understand that
Plaintiff also claims to control the right of all
UNIX vendors to use and distribute UNIX
System V. I believe that these claims are
incorrect. As described above in relation to the
Related Agreements and Amendment No. 2,
Novell retained certain rights under the UNIX
System V licensing agreements, as well as
certain UNIX System V intellectual property as
described above."
(Ex. Y23 ¶ 29). |
Agreed with 2004 declaration in which he stated, "I understand that IBM has argued that Section 4.16(b) of the APA gave Novell the right to require Santa Cruz to waive any breach of the intellectual property protections provided in the SVRX licenses. That argument is contrary to the intent of paragraph 4.16(b) as I understood it."
(Sabbath 2-12-07 67:9-25). |
"Section 4.16(b) of the Asset Purchase
Agreement included the following language
providing that Novell would have the right, at
its sole discretion, to amend, modify,
supplement or waive any rights under, or
assign any rights to, the UNIX System V
license agreements . . . . Since Novell would be
retaining the right to receive the royalties under
the UNIX System V licenses, it was agreed
that Novell also would retain certain rights to
control the contractual relationships with the
licensees."
(Ex. Y23 ¶ 12).
"Although Amendment No. 1 made several
changes to Section 4.16, it did not impose any
new limits on Novell's ability, at its sole
discretion, to amend, modify, supplement or
waive any rights under, or assign any rights to,
the legacy UNIX System V license agreements
in any manner or respect."
(Ex. Y23 ¶ 13).
"Furthermore, since the process set out in
Amendment No. 2 applies only in the context
of a royalty buy-out, Novell has the right, at its
sole discretion, to direct Plaintiff to amend,
modify, supplement or waive any rights under,
or assign any rights to, any `SVRX Licenses,'
as defined in the amended Asset Purchase
Agreement, without complying with the
process set out in Amendment No. 2 (and, if
Plaintiff fails to do so, to take such action on
Plaintiff's behalf) . . ."
(Ex. Y23 ¶ 23). |
Confirmed that he reviewed and approved 2004 declaration in which he stated that "Amendment Number 2 was intended to confirm, among other things, the parties' intent that SCO would obtain ownership of the UNIX copyrights under the APA."
(Sabbath 2-12-07 208:20-209:5). |
"Novell would effectively retain the legacy
UNIX System V licensing business. My
understanding was that the language in
Amendment No. 2 quoted above was intended
to implement this business deal with respect to
copyrights and trademarks. So far as I know,
neither Santa Cruz nor Novell ever identified
the specific copyrights or trademarks for which
a transfer of ownership was `required' for
Santa Cruz to exercise its rights with respect to
the acquisition of UNIX and UnixWare
technologies."
(Ex. Y23 ¶ 26).
"I believe that Santa Cruz assigned little, if
any, of the value of the acquisition to any
copyrights that it might have acquired from
Novell."
(Ex. Y23 ¶ 28). |
DATED: March 15, 2010
Respectfully submitted
By: /s/ Sterling A. Brennan
WORKMAN NYDEGGER
Sterling A. Brennan
David R. Wright
Kirk R. Harris
Cara J. Baldwin
MORRISON & FOERSTER LLP
Michael A. Jacobs, pro hac vice
Eric M. Acker, pro hac vice
Grant L. Kim, pro hac vice
Daniel P. Muino, pro hac vice
Attorneys for Defendant and
Counterclaim-Plaintiff Novell, Inc.
9
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