Novell’s attempt to dismiss The SCO Group’s claims that Novell maliciously and falsely claimed Unix’s copyrights has been denied, so the case will now move into the discovery phase–in which all the documentation will be examined to see who’s right and who’s not in the case. U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball ruled in Monday’s Memorandum Decision and Order–the decision on Novell’s motion–that the court couldn’t dismiss the case on matters of law because matters of fact in the case have yet to be determined.

Continuing its security-technology buying spree, Computer Associates on Monday announced that it is buying Tiny Software, a desktop firewall software maker, for an undisclosed sum. Computer Associates International completed the acquisition of Santa Clara-based Tiny Software on May 26 and plans to integrate Tiny’s wares with its eTrust Integrated Threat Management software. The purchase will add a new consumer security product to CA’s growing line of desktop wares.

Computer Associates said on Monday that it was launching an advertising campaign as it tries to shake off an accounting scandal stain. The software maker, which last year settled with the government for past accounting problems, said it was considering using "CA" as its formal name and may also alter its logo. The company has changed nearly all of its senior management team after restating at least $2 billion in revenue last year. Other companies such as MCI Inc., formerly known as WorldCom, have also tried to use name changes to emerge from past problems.

IBM said Monday that the Securities and Exchange Commission has launched an investigation related to the company’s first-quarter earnings and how the company accounted for stock-based compensation. In a filing with regulators, Big Blue said that it has received a request to "voluntarily comply with an informal investigation" by the SEC "concerning IBM’s disclosures relating to IBM’s first quarter earnings and expensing of equity compensation." The agency has informed IBM that the informal investigation is "not an indication that any violations of law have occurred," Big Blue said in a press release announcing the SEC’s move.

Bloggers who built their Internet followings with anti-establishment prose are now lobbying the establishment to protect their livelihoods from federal regulations. Some are even working with lawyers, public-relations consultants and a political action committee to do it.

Advanced Micro Devices said Tuesday it filed an antitrust suit alleging that Intel has an unlawful monopoly in the microprocessor market, which it contends is used to coerce customers. AMD said in its suit filed in U.S. District Court in Delaware that Intel has pressured customers, including Dell and Sony, not to deal with AMD. In its statement, AMD said it identified 38 companies that have been victims of coercion by Intel. It said the companies include large-scale computer manufacturers, small system builders, wholesale distributors and retailers.

Diversinet, provider of mobile device security and authentication solutions for the mobile data ecosystem, announced its line of MobiSecure PC Tokens. MobiSecure PC Tokens are the industry’s first OATH-compliant Microsoft Windows-based soft tokens specifically designed for large-scale One Time Password (OTP) strong authentication deployments by banks, on-line commerce vendors and service providers. MobiSecure PC Tokens allows users to easily access different services such as home banking, WiFi hotspots, or on-line communities.

Some say eBay’s blockbuster growth has engendered arrogance. Entrepreneurs grumble that executives pander to big-ticket electronics vendors and industrial manufacturers–not the teddy bear enthusiasts and numismatists who were faithful a decade ago, when eBay was founded and enjoyed a kitschy obscurity. They complain about shoddy customer service, including site crashes and anti-fraud software that too often mistakes a legitimate business for a huckster.

If your email does not have a Sender ID, Microsoft wants to junk your message. Sometime around November, Hotmail and MSN will flag as potential spam those messages that do not have the tag to verify the sender, Craig Spiezle, a director in the technology care and safety group at the software maker said Wednesday. The move is meant to spur adoption of Sender ID, he said.

Yahoo has shut down all its user-created Internet chat rooms amid concerns that adults were using the sites to try to have sex with minors. The giant Internet media company closed down those chat rooms and the ability to create new ones "in the past week," said Yahoo spokeswoman Mary Osako. Chat rooms created and sponsored by Yahoo itself remain open, Osako said. The number of user-created chat rooms is variable at any given time and Yahoo does not track that figure, she said.