Global legal action looms over use of Linux

Financial Times ^ | 18 JAN 2004 | Richard Waters

[rdb3]

|

Global legal action looms over use of Linux

By Richard Waters in San Francisco

Published: January 18 2004 19:55 | Last Updated: January 18 2004 19:55

Some of the world's biggest companies could shortly face lawsuits over their use of the Linux computer operating system, the executive at the centre of the growing legal storm over the software has warned.

The potential lawsuits would escalate the legal wrangle around Linux, dragging non-US companies into a battle that has threatened to derail one of the technology industry's biggest recent success stories.

BP, Siemens and Fujitsu are among a large number of big companies whose use of the operating system has come under scrutiny, said Darl McBride, chief executive of SCO, the small US company that has mounted the challenge.

He said the company had not yet decided whether to sue. But he added: "That clearly is an option we are looking into very closely."

An open-source system developed and maintained by volunteers, the free Linux software has become a mainstay in corporate computing departments. SCO began a legal campaign early last year, claiming some of its own software code had been illicitly included in Linux.

The prospect of legal action depends on the precise use each company makes of Linux, said Mr McBride. Commenting on the use of the software by BP, he said: "There are clearly some concerns with those guys." But he added that SCO is "trying to work through these things without going to court". The threat of legal action overseas extends a mounting campaign in the US.

The company has a list of a dozen US companies it is considering suing. Opponents claim the threats are little more than blackmail to persuade companies to buy licences from SCO.

The SCO chief would not confirm Google was on the list but he did little to dispel the prospect of legal action that could hamper the search engine company's listing plans. "Google is using a lot of Linux; they've benefited from that," said Mr McBride.

Extending the legal challenge overseas would open a new front in the battle. Mr McBride said SCO "started a dialogue" with a number of international companies last month over the use of Linux and planned to decide on action by the end of January.

It is using an unusual breach-of-contract claim to try to draw the international companies into the fray. Many companies around the world using the Unix computer operating system - which has long been a fixture of corporate computing - bought licences from AT&T, which first developed the software.

SCO assumed the rights to Unix in the 1990s and now claims some of the Unix code has found its way into Linux.

As a result, companies with Unix licences could be in breach of contract if they now use Linux, said Mr McBride.

= requires subscription to FT.com

Find this article at:
http://news.ft.com/s01/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1073281114455&p=1012571727088

|

 Check the box to include the list of links referenced in the article.

[rdb3]

[rdb3]

The Penguin Ping.

Wanna be Penguified? Just holla!

Got root?

[Tribune7]

I guess the danger is foreign firms won't understand that McBride is running a scam.

[Bush2000]

I guess the danger is foreign firms won't understand that McBride is running a scam...

Another danger is that you may be deluding yourself over SCO's chances for success...

[ikka]

Another danger is that you may be deluding yourself over SCO's chances for success...

Well, we will have to wait and see of course. Worst case scenario, buy a distribution like Suse whose owner, Novell, has agreed to indemnify its users against SCO's claims.

[PAR35]

Another danger is that you may be deluding yourself over SCO's chances for success...

You seem to be a little more confident about SCO's chances than they are themselves:
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1102542/000104746904001093/a2124450zs-3a.htm

[Bush2000]

You seem to be a little more confident about SCO's chances than they are themselves:

SCO's filings hedge against shareholder lawsuits. Any company would do the same.

[PAR35]

SCO's filings hedge against shareholder lawsuits. Any company would do the same.

And I won't read anything into the fact that they need to hire both a Director of Financial Reporting and an Internal Audit person.
http://www.sco.com/company/jobs/

or that they appointed a new head of the audit committee on Dec. 23.
http://ir.sco.com/ReleaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=125232

[Salo]

SCO still has not supplied IBM with the documents they requested. The deadline was 01/12/04. SCO has shit in their hat.

Another danger is that you may be deluding yourself over SCO's chances for success...

[antiRepublicrat]

I thought SCO's games were stopped cold in Germany.

[rdb3]

They'll never give up since they are running interference.

[Bush2000]

And I won't read anything into the fact that they need to hire both a Director of Financial Reporting and an Internal Audit person.

Irrelevant. Companies are always looking for solid people.

[Bush2000]

SCO still has not supplied IBM with the documents they requested. The deadline was 01/12/04. SCO has shit in their hat.

If SCO has acted in bad faith, the court will sanction them for it. But there hasn't been a word from the court on this subject. Keep spinning.

[steve-b]

SCO, like Clinton, has found some media Monicas. So?

[steve-b]

SCO, like Clinton, has found some media Monicas. So?