Linux finally free from SCO! (?)

**bacchus_3** · 08-14-2007, 08:37 AM

I just thought of sharing this to all Linux enthusiasts and admins here.

Just heard the news today from my RSS feeds about a judge ruling that Novell owns the rights to UNIX and not SCO. This is a large blow to SCO for its case against IBM since it presumes that it owns copyrights to UNIX and thus have rights to claim that every Linux user infringe the company's rights to claim 'royalty'.

Article is here.

I remember this legal drama started when I graduated in College and have been waiting for when this will end. Surely I'd hope this will put more confidence to enterprise customers to use Linux (and actually help Apple too since it has a UNIX core).

Good day everyone!

**Sponsor** · 08-14-2007 08:37 AM

**bon** · 08-14-2007, 08:42 AM

Yeah I heard this on the Leo Laporte's TWiT podcast last night. Funny how the panel noted that Leo was still with TechTV when they first began monitoring the SCO lawsuits.

**saibot** · 08-14-2007, 08:46 AM

nice to hear that..

**reivi400** · 08-14-2007, 09:05 AM

Thanks for posting this bacchus_3! I have almost forgotten about this case. This is certainly a good piece of news.

**cryptonomikon** · 08-14-2007, 02:08 PM

a federal district court judge in Utah ruled Friday afternoon that Novell, not the SCO Group, is the rightful owner of the copyrights covering the Unix operating system

hmmm... i wonder about the details of the copyrights supposedly owned by Novell. doesn't this just shift the territory from SCO to Novell? won't Novell next start suing other companies?

**bacchus_3** · 08-14-2007, 02:14 PM

Not the case. There is a lot of history why UNIX became what it is now but SCO just twisted it when they claim they own it. IBM and Novell already formed partnership on the Linux front and distribute their own distro of Linux.

**loopy** · 08-14-2007, 02:48 PM

oh. is this the case where there were insinuations that MS was indirectly financing SCO's legal attack? good news. haven't read the decision but i can't believe SCO agreed to purchase novell's unix system without the copyrights and patents. what a strange business decision.

**bacchus_3** · 08-14-2007, 03:15 PM

I believe Novell licensed it but not handed over the UNIX rights itself to SCO. That's the gist of the decision

**kaffee** · 08-15-2007, 11:48 AM

loopy:

May 19, 2003 | Microsoft Buys Into SCO Group's Unix | By Thor Olavsrud

Microsoft (Quote) threw its weight behind SCO Group's battle against Linux Monday by declaring that it would license Unix technology from SCO (Quote) in order to "ensure intellectual property compliance across all Microsoft solutions..."

Originally Posted by loopy

oh. is this the case where there were insinuations that MS was indirectly financing SCO's legal attack? good news. haven't read the decision but i can't believe SCO agreed to purchase novell's unix system without the copyrights and patents. what a strange business decision.

Originally Posted by bacchus_3

I believe Novell licensed it but not handed over the UNIX rights itself to SCO. That's the gist of the decision

The Register says "...Much of the controversy covered by Kimball stems from the vague language of a 1995 Asset Purchase Agreement between Novell and SCO. Subsequent discussions held between the two companies did little to clear up the confusion as to whether or not Novell shifted Unix copyrights to SCO during the technology swap..."

bacchus_3, I am not sure about how the whole case affects Linux, though, as much as it affects Novell's Unix and its affiliates in general. Care to enlighten me on this one?

Well, a closure for Novell, I hope...not! It would be exciting to see who will be next in the line of fire, so to speak. And SCO is required to compensate Novell as a result.

**bacchus_3** · 08-15-2007, 12:45 PM

@koffee, details are actually in www.linux.org if you don't know this site yet. It has been a dedicated site for the SCO vs IBM.

SCO filed a lawsuit against IBM claiming they infringed on their UNIX rights ownership for supporting Linux and probably spilling technologies to the Linux community. The core of this case is that SCO owns the UNIX rights that it licensed from Novell (a lot of other preliminary condition is also presented but I'm not good into keeping track of the law thingamagigs).

Novell filed a lawsuit to SCO on its claims that it owns the UNIX copyright. This became a counter-lawsuit of 'Team Linux'. This court ruling solidifies the stand of Novell ownership and SCO has no right filing a lawsuit to IBM if it doesn't own UNIX copyright.

There are still minor details that have not been resolved but in the Linux world it pretty much cut SCO's strongest foundating for their case.

I have the (?) in my thread too as it doesn't necessarily mean the case is over...the SCO vs IBM case is still open but the world knows that SCO has lost a big ace to win the game easily.