OS and Software > All Things Unix > SCO-Novell Lawsuit Finally Going to Trial

reply to BBBanditRuR

Re: SCO-Novell Lawsuit Finally Going to Trial

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March 30th, 2010 by Ian Bruce

Today, the jury in the District Court of Utah trial between SCO Group and Novell issued a verdict.

Novell is very pleased with the jury’s decision confirming Novell’s ownership of the Unix copyrights, which SCO had asserted to own in its attack on Linux. Novell remains committed to promoting Linux, including by defending Linux on the intellectual property front.

This decision is good news for Novell, for Linux, and for the open source community.

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So can they appeal at this point?? I really cannot believe it is over yet.

Why not? All the way to the SCOTUS if they choose, and if they continue to exist.

reply to SUMware
From Sys-Con.com
March 30, 2010 -

said by Maureen O'Gara :

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Novell Owns Unix

A federal jury Tuesday found that Novell owns the Unix copyrights. They never transferred to the Santa Cruz Operation and so they never transferred to its descendent SCO.

A decision in SCO's favor would have opened the door for it to pursue its original multibillion-dollar case against IBM and to levy a tax on every one of the thousands of Linux systems out there. Without the copyrights SCO has no standing to go after IBM.

SCO was also hoping to collect perhaps at much $215 million in lost business from Novell and an uncalculated amount of punitive damages, enough to put itself back on its feet.

The seven-year experience has drained SCO of resources and it's currently operating under the protection of the bankruptcy court, its management replaced with a trustee. The loss will probably kill it, a fate that will suit its legion of enemies just fine.

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reply to SUMware
The fat lady has sung!!

scoxq.pk dropped 77% today to 0.102

reply to SUMware
From The Salt Lake Tribune

said by Tom Harvey :

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SCO vows to press ahead with IBM lawsuit

Former U.S. District Judge Edward Cahn, the trustee for SCO's bankruptcy filed in Delaware, said the company is "deeply disappointed" in the jury's verdict in the dispute over which company owned the copyrights to Unix, which is widely used in business computing.

But Cahn said SCO intends to continue its lawsuit against IBM, in which the computer giant is accused of using Unix code to make the Linux operating system a viable competitor, causing a decline in SCO's revenues.

"The copyright claims are gone, but we have other claims based on contracts," Cahn said.

The former judge, who recommended to the bankruptcy court last year that SCO continue to pursue lawsuits against Novell and IBM, said he will meet with lawyers to discuss what today's verdict does to the company's Unix business and what it means to SCO's future.

SCO sued in 2004 after Novell claimed it had retained the copyrights when it sold Unix in 1995. That claim came after SCO had sued IBM.

About the same time, SCO also sent letters to businesses using Linux, demanding they buy licenses from SCO because Linux made use of the Unix code.

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"This is a significant victory for Novell and, I think, a tremendous victory for the open-source community," said Novell attorney Sterling Brennan. He added that while there are still a few issues to be decided in the case and SCO has a right to appeal, "This verdict largely brings an end to this."

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So if they have other contract claims, why not persue those first if there is a better chance in winning and collecting money? SOunds like to me they chose the wrong battles in the wrong order.

I am one of the many that wish they would hurry up and die.

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I know some snarky comments will immediately come by saying, “what? Novell protects the open source community? What about its agreement with Microsoft yadda-yadda-yadda?”

I think the more important point in all this is that Linux is out of court, and that whatever the merits of Microsoft’s patent claims on Linux technology it’s not dragging Linux back into court.

Any cloud overhanging use of Linux should now be clearly gone. Novell owns the copyrights. Its agreement with Microsoft is binding regarding patent claims should anyone choose to sign it. Those who don’t are not cowering in fear, either.

The long legal nightmare of open source may be well and truly over.

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It's taken seven years of legal wrangling, three weeks of trial, and not quite two days of deliberation by a jury to settle the matter: Novell still owns the Unix System V copyrights, and SCO doesn't have a leg to stand on. It isn't officially over until the doors to SCO's offices are closed and the company liquidated. Right now SCO is in chapter 11 bankruptcy and trying to sell off a Java-related patent for running multiple Java apps on a single Java virtual machine to pay off some of its debtors.

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This verdict will make it difficult for SCO to continue pursuing its baseless assault on the open source operating system.

SCO failed to prove its case, as the jury declared that Novell is the rightful owner of the SVRX copyrights.

SCO cannot continue pursuing its infringement litigation against IBM or assorted Linux users because it doesn't own the copyrights that it claims are infringed by Linux. Even if the jury had ruled in SCO's favor, the overwhelming lack of evidence of infringement would still likely make it impossible for SCO to achieve victory in its litigation campaign. It's unclear if the company will be able to evade liquidation following this latest failure in court.

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said by Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols :

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Novell Wins! SCO Loses!

Anyone with any sense knew that there was no Unix code in Linux, except, of course, for any code that SCO itself placed there. And, even that wasn't code that mattered.

No, the only real purpose of SCO's lawsuits was to spread anti-Linux FUD on the behalf of its financial backers such as Microsoft.

To quote Pamela Jones, editor of Groklaw and the world's foremost expert on SCO's legal saga, "Thank you, Novell, for never giving up, and never giving in. Those of us who love to use Linux will forever be thankful to you."

I second her statement. While some Linux fans have real trouble with Novell thanks to its partnerships with Microsoft, they should never forget that Novell ended up doing the heavy legal lifting needed to defeat SCO's Linux attacks.

I really can't imagine what Cahn [former U.S. District Judge Edward Cahn, the trustee for SCO's bankruptcy] is thinking about. There are some lingering issues over SCO's, formerly Caldera, contract with IBM concerning Project Monterrey, a still-born effort to create a Unix that would run on both Intel and POWER processors, but when I think about all the money that's been poured down the rat hole of SCO litigation I can't imagine that SCO or its attorneys ever getting out of the red with anything that might result from those matters.

In any case, though, no matter what Cahn or anyone else might think, SCO no longer has even a feeble claim that can be made against Linux. SCO is dead.

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Groklaw's reporter on the scene this morning knew something was up when, from his post at a café across the street, he saw many suited people, including former CEO McBride, entering the courtroom.

A half-hour later, the jury informed the judge it had reached a verdict.

Moments later, each juror was polled, had the amended asset purchase agreement not transferred UNIX copyrights from Novell to SCO? And each one answered in the affirmative.

SCO ... the closest thing the computing industry has ever seen to a zombie.

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reply to SUMware
The actual verdict form (pdf).

reply to SUMware
From ITWorld
March 30, 2010 -

said by Brian Proffitt :

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SCO, Novell: Grokking Where Credit is Due

I have a sneaking suspicion that a whole slew of new lawsuits could come out of the woodwork, particularly from those suckers customers who actually bought a license from SCOsource.

Remember them? Sun Microsystems and Microsoft were two of the more prominent licensees. Glad that worked out so well for them.

Novell ... decided to take the high road and publicly challenge SCO's claims instead of going along with SCO's plan.

The next thing that ruined SCO's plans? Groklaw.

Pamela Jones and the community she built at Groklaw was the Linux response. Writing tirelessly alone at first, then gaining incredible volunteer support and contributions, Jones was able to build an incredible repository of information surrounding all of the cases involving SCO. Now, when claims were made, their veracity would be publicly examined and then confirmed or denied.

Today Groklaw is more than a mere "SCO watcher"--it is one of the best legal watchdog sites in the world, with expanded coverage of all legal challenges to Linux, free software, and open source software.

I would to extend public congratulations from myself and (I suspect) quite a few members of the Linux and open source community for a job well done. You, your site, and the community that surrounds Groklaw demonstrates what it truly great about open source: that the positive collaboration of ideas and skills will always lead to something greater than its makers ever intended.

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reply to SUMware
Can we all do a happy dance now? Preferably on SCO's grave? Overall, this is sad. Back in the day when they were Caldera they were a good Linux company. Just think of what they could have done with Linux and SCO. SCO was a very popular in the UNIX world, both OpenServer and UNIXWare.

Maybe Novell should buy the UNIX properties from them or take them in lieu of the damages?

Yes, it could have been a much different technical outcome if it had not gone this route. As for being the end, I see, however, that they could still appeal and pursue other aspects of its suit against IBM.

»news.techworld.com/sme/3218925/s···N4&no1x1
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reply to SUMware
Speakung of Novell, here's a pretty interesting article concerning Novell & IBM:
Why Doesn't IBM just BUY Novell already?.
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