SCO to send out Linux invoices

Cnet News ^ | 8-2-2003 | By Stephen Shankland

[Coral Snake]

SCO to send out Linux invoices

By Stephen Shankland Staff Writer, CNET News.com September 2, 2003, 5:54 PM PT

The SCO Group is turning up the heat in its attempt to impose Unix license fees for Linux use: It plans to begin sending invoices to companies before the month is out. The Lindon, Utah-based company announced in August that it wants corporations to buy Unix licenses for using the similar Linux operating system, asking $699 for a single-processor Linux server. But Tuesday, SCO spokesman Blake Stowell said the company will begin the more active approach of sending invoices requesting payment to commercial Linux users, "probably some time this month."

Sending invoices, while a more-aggressive move, still stops short of the kind of legal action the company has threatened before. In July, SCO Chief Executive Darl McBride described the licensing program as "a solution that...gets you square with the use of Linux, without having to go to the courtroom."

SCO will pursue commercial Linux users who have discussed their Linux work publicly, Stowell said. However, it won't take action until it's done more research on those businesses, he added.

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[Paleo Conservative]

[Duke Nukum]

I'm all for fighting for stuff, but...Well, you'd think people wouldn't fight this hard over something that sucks so much.

[AmericaUnited]

HAHA!! SCO is going to get crushed. These people are just so pathetic.

[taxcontrol]

SCO, for your information, should I receive an invoice, you will receive a cease and desist letter from my lawyers.

[Salo]

Should I get one of these letters, and God knows, I've been eagerly awaiting one, the first step is to contact the postmaster about the mail fraud and step two is contact the attorney general. If you haven't purchased from SCO, they can't invoice you for anything. Sending this invoice via USPS mail is mail fraud.

[Mr. K]

this smells like the makings of an urban legend... is their any confirmation that this is true?

[palmer]

this smells like the makings of an urban legend

SCO is an urban legend in their own minds.

[Salo]

It's being reported in all of the trades.

[Salo]

We need a little bit of FUD remover.

[Nick Danger]

There was a famous scam some years ago in which the fraudsters sent bogus invoices to various companies, usually for things like office supplies, toner cartridges, etc.

The scam worked because many companies paid low-dollar invoices as a matter of routine. By the time their internal systems caught the fact that there was no purchase order to match against the invoice, the fraudsters had moved on, leaving no trace.

This led to the passage of a law that made it a federal crime to send an invoice through the mail to any company with which the sender had no prior contract or purchase order for the items invoiced. This is now a form of mail fraud.

For press release purposes these will be referred to as "invoices," but SCO's lawyers cannot be so dumb that they would advise sending something out that actually demands a payment. Instead these are very likely to be more vague threats of bad things to come unless the recipient calls SCO to "arrange terms."

Either that, or this whole thing will turn out to be another empty threat like the auditing of AIX customers or the imminent filing of lawsuits against linux users.

SCO was just fined E10,000 (about $10,500) by a German court for stating on its German web site that linux users may be liable for infringing on SCO's "mental property." The German courts had previously prohibited SCO from making any more of those sorts of claims until it proved that there was some truth to them. Rather than proving anything, SCO cleansed their web site of the claims. Except they missed one, and that just cost them ten thousand bucks.

[Cboldt]

If you haven't purchased from SCO, they can't invoice you for anything.

Well, they can, but they shouldn't. I summarily shitcan invoices for products I didn't buy. Sue me.

[rdb3]

The Penguin Ping.

Wanna be Penguified? Just holla!

Got root?

[Publius6961]

Hey what a clever idea.
I'm going to have to try that.

Jesse Jackson, SCO whatever.
Send the pigeons an invoice and see if they pay.

If only 10% cough up that could be pretty good.

[Liberal Classic]

Since this issue hasn't yet been decided in court, SCO could run afoul of the Postal Service mail fraud regulations for fraudulently sending out invoices.

[Liberal Classic]

Mail Fraud (18 USC 1341, 1342 & 1345; 39 USC 3005 & 3007) The Postal Inspection Service is committed to protecting postal customers from misuse of the mail. Inspectors place special emphasis on mail fraud scams related to advance fees, boiler rooms, health care, insurance, investments, deceptive mailings and other consumer frauds, especially when they target the elderly or other susceptible groups.

[Coral Snake]

You have NO business placing that kind of information in a public forum. This "Penguin Ping is going to be removed by the moderator.

[Salo]

Um....you only see your IP info if that's what you are complaining about. This is a good thing: reminds us to be aware that when on the net, we are not invisible.

[Nick Danger]

You have NO business placing that kind of information in a public forum.

Open source programmer, eh? Do you really think anybody but you saw your stuff? We all saw our stuff... a cheap apache trick.

[shadowman99]

In other news today a subpoena was served on Canopy Group in SCO vs. IBM. See the docket (bottom of page) and see Groklaw. Notice that the subpoena was issued to Canopy, the parent holding company, and not SCO itself. Subpoenas are only issued when a judge feels it is warrented. IBM's attorneys must have made a compeilling argument to do so.

Also, what's with SCO's Stock today? Why does a stock that went up 5% in it's first hour today have almost no volume for the rest of the day? Must be some communist plot. :)

Or perhaps the street has started to notice the game SCO is playing and thinks IBM is going to win.

Pump 'em while you can, Darl.