SCO goes down in flames: Novell owns Unix!

[yaye]

The SCO Group sued IBM in 2003 claiming that IBM contributed SCO Unix intellectual property (code) to Linux. A suit between SCO and Novell then ensued over who owns the IP rights to Unix. The judge in the case has concluded that:

- Novell owns Unix, not SCO

- SCO has to honor Novell's request that SCO not sue IBM or Sequent

- SCO owes Novell some (95% ?) of the money that Microsoft and Sun Microsystems paid to SCO

From: SCO goes down in flames: Novell owns Unix!
http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS5738390641.html

Aug. 10, 2007

Analysis -- The day Linux fans have been waiting for since SCO attacked Linux on May 12, 2003 has finally arrived. U.S. District Court Judge Dale Kimball has ruled that Novell, not SCO, owns Unix's IP (intellectual property) rights. This, in turn, means the end of SCO's cases against IBM.

In his 102-page decision, Kimball went on to rule that "SCO is obligated to recognize Novell's waiver of SCO's claims against IBM and Sequent". Thus, not only does Novell own Unix, SCO's cases against IBM have essentially been destroyed.

Additional Links:

Linux-Watch: http://www.linux-watch.com/news/NS4049572248.html

Grolaw: http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20070810165237718

[rags]

Nice.

[yaye]

On the first business day after the judge's ruling, SCO is "disappointed" by judge's ruling and its stock closes the day at $0.44 per share.

From El Reg ( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/13/sco_responds_novell/ ):

"Sue it forward
By Ashlee Vance in Mountain View
Published Monday 13th August 2007 19:31 GMT

Mimicking a scene from Monty Python's The Holy Grail, the SCO Group has issued a statement declaring that it's not dead yet. .....

.....SCO continues to weigh its options for suing forward.

Meanwhile, SCO's stock dropped - oh - more than 70 per cent today, leaving SCOX at 43 cents per share, as of this writing."

[yaye]

Wasting money paying lawyers to file lawsuits claiming infringement of intellectual property when it turns out it doesn't own the property; and facing owing Novell more money than it has, SCO files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

The trial to determine just how much SCO owes Novell is on hold.

From Marketwatch: SCO Group Noted Linux Litigation (http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/sco-group-noted-linux-litigation/story.aspx?guid=%7B52255479%2DFE3B%2D4E04%2D8E43%2 D13CE43715635%7D&siteid=yhoof)
"A trial has been scheduled to further decide whether roughly $25 million in licensing revenue related to Unix must now be taken from SCO and handed to Novell. In its most recent quarterly filing, SCO reported having total assets worth $19.8 million as of April 30."

Links:

http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS8928607521.html

http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2007/09/14/sco_bankruptcy_protection/

http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/newstex/AFX-0013-19593038.htm

http://www.linux.com/feature/119211

http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20070914152904577

[trecaz]

lol ... I wonder if anyone paid the wrong company for rights

[yaye]

lol ... I wonder if anyone paid the wrong company for rights
If you mean pay rights to use Linux, when it is available for free, EV1Servers.Net (EV1), the hosting division of Everyones Internet, did and got a very vocal negative response from some of their customers.

From Infoworld (http://www.infoworld.com/article/04/03/25/HNscolicensee%20_1.html), March 2004

"We got the hate mail, we got the group of people who interpreted our agreement as validating SCO or endorsing SCO or any number of things," said Marsh.

"All of a sudden we went from being reasonably good guys to being, in some people's eyes, akin to the devil. And that's certainly something that weighs heavy on our minds, because we always want to do the right thing," he said.

So how does Marsh feel about the deal nearly a month later? "Would I do it again? No. I'll go on the record as saying that," Marsh said. "I certainly know a lot more today than I knew a month ago, in a lot of respects." ...................

"..............The big loser in this matter may be SCO, said Dion Cornett, an analyst with Decatur Jones Equity Partners LLC, an equity research firm based in Chicago. Having their first publicly announced customer express second thoughts over the deal so soon after its announcement may make it difficult for SCO to sign up other customers, he said."

[yaye]

SCO thought that, by filing for bankruptcy, it could avoid the judge's decision on how much it owes Novell. Novell, however, is going after SCO in bankruptcy court.

From Linux-Watch (http://www.linux-watch.com/news/NS2342597527.html)

"Oct. 06, 2007

When SCO went for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, it was thought that SCO was doing it in part to avoid losing its cash reserves and more to Novell in the next stage of the Novell/SCO lawsuit. Now, Novell is pursuing SCO from the IP (intellectual property) courts to the bankruptcy courts.".......more here (http://www.linux-watch.com/news/NS2342597527.html).........