| SCO appeals Unix ownership decision |
Aug. 31, 2007
In lawsuits, as in baseball, there is no mercy rule. One side can be down by a dozen runs, but the game continues until the bitter end. So it is that SCO filed on Aug. 29 an appeal to the U.S. District Court decision that declared that Novell had never sold Unix's intellectual property to SCO.
On Aug. 12, U.S. District Court Judge Dale Kimball ruled that Novell, not SCO, owns Unix's IP rights. Without Unix's IP, SCO's other cases against IBM, Red Hat and other Linux-using companies cannot be sustained.
In Novell's financial earnings call on Aug. 29, Novell CEO Ron Hovsepian said that the court's ruling was "cutting the core out of SCO's case and eliminating it as a threat to the Linux community."
Specifically, SCO is asking the court to enter a final judgment on the Unix ownership issues so that it can seek an immediate appeal. The logic for this, according to Groklaw Editor Pamela Jones, is that "SCO would rather appeal right away so it can try all its claims in IBM, should it successfully appeal the judge's order."
This decision comes as no surprise. In a letter to SCO's partners, SCO CEO Darl McBride wrote, "We continue to believe that when SCO paid more than $100 million for the UNIX technology to Novell in 1995, we purchased everything. We believe that 'All rights and ownership of UNIX and UnixWare, including but not limited to all versions of UNIX and UnixWare and all copies of UNIX and UnixWare (including revisions and updates in process), and all technical, design, development, installation, operation and maintenance information concerning Unix and UnixWare, including source code, source documentation, source listings …' means just what it says, but the court did not agree."
McBride concluded: "We do feel a responsibility to you and our shareholders to defend our rights when we believe they have been violated, and that is simply what we continue to do within the courts. In the end, our legal team will focus on the necessary actions needed to protect SCO, its customers and shareholders."
Thomas Carey, a partner at Boston law firm Bromberg & Sunstein and chairman of its business department, recently said in his analysis of the decision that U.S. District Court Judge Dale Kimball "simply applied the contract literally, without examining whether to do so involved trying to split inseparable items' ownership of the work, and ownership of the copyright. Perhaps he was right to do so, because he painstakingly attempted to understand the business deal, and looked with care at the history of the drafting of the contract to see what the parties were trying to accomplish. And he got that part right."
The result? "Judge Dale's application of the contract is pretty devastating to SCO," Carey said. "Most of the bad news stems from the simple fact that Novell retained the copyright. But there is more bad news for SCO: Since SCO was acting as Novell's agent in the licensing of older versions of Unix (the SVRX licenses); it controlled SCO's actions as the nominal licensor. In that capacity, the judge ruled, Novell had the power to require SCO to waive its infringement claims against IBM."
SCO may be down by a dozen runs in this vital case, but it's the bottom of the ninth, and the company is showing that's it's determined to get its swings in.
—Steven J. Vaughan Nichols
Do you have comments on this story?
Talkback here
NOTE: Please post your comments regarding our articles using the above link. Be sure to use this article's title as the "Subject" in your posts. Before you create a new thread, please check to see if a discussion thread is already running on the article you plan to comment on. Thanks!
Related stories:
(Click here for further information)
|
|
|
7 Advantages of D2D Backup
For decades, tape has been the backup medium of choice. But, now, disk-to-disk (D2D) backup is gaining in favor. Learn why you should make the move in this whitepaper.
4 Legal Reasons to Control Internet Access
The Internet is obviously a valuable resource for many organizations. However, many are exposed to legal liability concerns because they fail to control Internet access. Learn if you're safe in this white paper.
Rapidly Resolve J2EE Application Problems
Whether you are in the process of building J2EE applications or have J2EE applications already running in production, you must ensure that they deliver the expected ROI. Learn how in this white paper.
Load Testing 2.0 for Web 2.0
There are many unknowns in stress testing Web 2.0 applications. Find out how to test the performance of Web 2.0 in this white paper.
Build Better Games Online
For the game infrastructure providers, life is complex. Making money from games has become more complicated. Why? Find out in this white paper.
Building a Virtual Infrastructure from Servers to Storage
This white paper discusses the virtual storage solutions that reduce cost, increase storage utilization, and address the challenges of backing up and restoring Server environments.
Gaining Faster Wireless Connections with WiMAX
Welcome to what is quickly becoming the hyperconnected world where anything that would benefit from being connected to the network will be connected. Learn more in this white paper.
Is Your Desktop a Security Threat?
The new wave of sophisticated crimeware not only targets specific companies, but also targets desktops and laptops as backdoor entryways into those business’ operations and resources. Learn how to stay safe in this white paper.
Increasing SAN Reliability by 100 Percent
Storage area networks (SAN) are a strong part of storage plans. Learn how to increase your reliability and uptime by 100 percent in this case study.
|
|
|
|
|
news feed