Judge Kimball rules: There will be no jury in SCO v. Novell

The Honorable Dale Kimball has now ruled: there will be no jury at the trial of SCO v. Novell. He granted Novell's motion on that. He will hear it himself. Here's the ruling [PDF], which comes in response to 8 motions, and here's how the judge ruled on them:

* The SCO Group, Inc.'s ("SCO") Motion for Entry of Final Judgment Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 54(b) -- No, so there will be no immediate partial appeal.

* Novell's Motion to Strike Jury Demand -- Yes. No jury trial. Novell is seeking only equitable relief.

Looking good for the Kneepad Microserfs and the linux haters.....

Not according to the author:

SCO has not won this judge over. No amount of dazzle will do it for them now. There will be no jury to be dazzled....
This court's August 10, 2007 Memorandum Decision and Order found that SCO breached its fiduciary duty to Novell when it failed to remit royalties to Novell for licenses indisputably containing SVRX technology. As a result, the court found that Novell was entitled to a constructive trust for those amounts because Novell retained a 100% equitable interest in royalties from SVRX Licenses. The only question of fact remaining for trial is the proper amount of the constructive trust....
The court has already found that SCO is liable to Novell for its breach of fiduciary duty because it unjustly retains SVRX Royalties belonging to Novell. Therefore, the trial is necessary only to determine the proper amount....
Or as I like to think of it for simplicity's sake, in light of the looming constructive trust, is SCO dead, only mostly dead, or just not long for this world?

> As a result, the court found that Novell was entitled
> to a constructive trust for those amounts because Novell
> retained a 100% equitable interest in royalties from SVRX
> Licenses. The only question of fact remaining for trial
> is the proper amount of the constructive trust....

The agreement between SCOX and NOVL called for 95% of
the revenue to end up with Novell, and SCO had been
paying it on all but these two deals. 95% is now more
than SCO’s net worth. They spent it all on bogus lawsuits.
Shareholder suits are certain.
Criminal referrals are in order.

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