SCO loses to Novell over Unix copyrights
Can't you feel the love? SCO doesn't own the copyrights to Unix after all.
It all started way back in March 2003 when SCO initially filed a lawsuit against IBM. The suit claimed that SCO owned the copyrights to Unix and that IBM had copied the source code for use in the freely distributed Linux OS. But before the suit could manage to pick up any steam, Novell stepped forward and claimed that it held the copyrights.
This part right here is where everything gets interesting.
Formally called Caldera Systems and Caldera International, SCO's predecessor company had licensed Unix from Novell and began packaging its own Unix OS for use on Intel's 8086 and 8088 processor based computers. It was in this transaction that SCO claims to have received the copyrights to Unix.
SCO's hope for the lawsuit was to not only receive a landfill full of money (the lawsuit against IBM was for over £490 million!) but to also charge end users a license fee to run any flavour of Linux.
Thankfully, a blow was dealt to that on Friday when a federal court judge in Utah issued a summary judgment declaring that Novell had retained the copyrights to Unix.
The case isn't completely over though as SCO has hinted that it will appeal the decision and continue on. “Although the district judge ruled in Novell's favor on important issues, the case has not yet been fully vetted by the legal system and we will continue to explore our options with respect to how we move forward from here,” a representative said.
Novell had its own words about the decision, of course. “The court's ruling has cut out the core of SCO's case and, as a result, eliminates SCO's threat to the Linux community based upon allegations of copyright infringement of UNIX. We are extremely pleased with the outcome.” the company said in a statement.
With the heart and lungs of the suit having been cut out by the judge, SCO may find out soon enough that it doesn't have enough breath left in it for another round.
Tell us your thoughts on this lengthy battle over in the forums or in the comments section below.
Previous Article
12 Comments
Discuss in the forums ReplyDoes that mean that Sun Solaris, SGI IRIX, IBM AIX are all licensed by Novell ?
No, IBM just made a convenient target, until Novell stood up and said that they were the real owners.
You must understand, this entire case isn't based on copyright infringement - it's a puppet company (backed by M$) taking a shot at Linux (via Unix, via IBM and Novell). ESR tears the key point of the whole thing apart in great detail - I hope you speak C, because you'll need it to understand the code.
If I understand the situation correctly, Novell bought the core Unix development group from AT&T. At that time, there were dozens, if not hundreds of Unix-like OSes on the market - a real AT&T Unix license cost a lot of money for not much code, so there were lots of free (or less expensive) versions that worked all but exactly the same.
One of these versions was bought by the company that became SCO - there were two or three name changes in there. They licensed code from IBM, which IBM later donated to the Open Source movement. The conditions of the licence were ambiguous - it wasn't clear if IBM was letting SCO use the code, or if IBM was giving SCO the code.
SCO would have faded into obscurity (thanks to the rise of Linux and other free Unixes), but this not-so-little company named Microsoft noticed that they had a potential case against IBM, and by extension, all the Unixes that used the code that IBM donated. SCO sued, Microsoft provided serious financial help (that year, 2003, is the only one in which SCO turned a profit), and the rest is history.
Interestingly enough, the most published instance of code in Linux that was alleged as being copied was removed in 2.3.something, IIRC, as being "too ugly to live".
(edit)
Basically, Novell now owns the original, old-school Unix, and they can charge royalties and all that from people who use original Unix code. Sun, SGI, BSD, Linux, and company don't use original Unix code (because they wanted an alternative to the very expensive Unix), so they don't owe Novell a dime. I think it's a fairly comfortable agreement on all sides, as Novell is the company behind SuSE - I think it's more a case of Novell grabbing the Unix copyrights so somebody else couldn't buy them and try to extort the whole Unix-like crowd, rather than Novell trying to make money.
yeah right.... and pigs fly with cows attached to them....
Oh to be a fly on the wall in the SCO boardroom.
No we just wait for the Novell and IBM counter claims to be decided. SCO is toast and the executive may be looking at jail time for fraud.