The SCO Group Announces Final Termination of IBM Contract to Use or License Dynix Software

SCO ^ | 08/13/03 | The SCO Group

[Salo]

The SCO(R) Group Announces Final Termination of IBM / Sequent's Contract to Use or License Dynix Software LINDON, Utah, Aug 13, 2003 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ --

The SCO(R) Group (SCO)(Nasdaq: SCOX) delivered final written notice yesterday to Sequent Computer Systems for termination of its UNIX System V software contract. Sequent is now owned by IBM. The Sequent (IBM) contract was terminated for improper transfer of Sequent's UNIX source code and development methods into Linux. As a result, IBM no longer has the right to use or license the Sequent UNIX product known as "Dynix/ptx." Customers may not acquire a license in Dynix/ptx from today's date forward.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/19990421/SCOLOGO )

SCO's System V UNIX contract allowed Sequent to prepare derivative works and modifications of System V software "provided the resulting materials were treated as part of the Original [System V] Software." Restrictions on use of the Original System V Software include the requirement of confidentiality, a prohibition against transfer of ownership, and a restriction against use for the benefit of third parties. Sequent-IBM has nevertheless contributed approximately 148 files of direct Sequent UNIX code to the Linux 2.4 and 2.5 kernels, containing 168,276 lines of code. This Sequent code is critical NUMA and RCU multi-processor code previously lacking in Linux. Sequent-IBM has also contributed significant UNIX-based development methods to Linux in addition to the direct lines of code specified above. Through these Linux contributions, Sequent-IBM failed to treat Dynix as part of the original System V software, and exceeded the scope of permitted use under its UNIX System V contract with SCO.

SCO gave Sequent-IBM two months written notice prior to termination, as required by contract. IBM failed to cure its breach of the Sequent-IBM contract, or to offer any solution whatsoever to cure its breach. SCO's termination of the Sequent-IBM UNIX System V license is self-effectuating and does not require court approval. SCO previously terminated IBM's right to use or license IBM's UNIX product known as AIX. From and after June 16, 2003, customers no longer have the legal right to acquire new AIX licenses.

About SCO

The SCO Group (Nasdaq: SCOX) helps millions of customers in more than 82 countries to grow their businesses everyday. Headquartered in Lindon, Utah, SCO has a worldwide network of more than 11,000 resellers and 4,000 developers. SCO Global Services provides reliable localized support and services to partners and customers. For more information on SCO products and services, visit http://www.sco.com .

SCO, and the associated SCO logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of The SCO Group, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group. All other brand or product names are or may be trademarks of, and are used to identify products or services of, their respective owners.

SOURCE The SCO Group

[Golden Eagle]

Don't be surprised. I post/read everything I find about this. Also, it's a SCO press release, so it's *supposed* to be damaging to my side. ;-)

That's respectable, indeed, and likely why I was surprised. ;-)

Concerning your knowledge related to the case, are there any copies of the ATT/Sequent contracts floating out there? How about this supposed 'three-way' contract with Novell?

[Salo]

I have not seen the contracts, but I am sure they will be posted soon somewhere. There's a law site that has been following this case very closely that has been putting up plenty of documentation. Nick Danger will most likely have it up as soon as it is available.

[Salo]

Not sure if these two are it, but:

Exhibit F

Exhibit G

[isthisnickcool]

Has SCO claimed to own all the rights to CP/M yet?

[Revolting cat!]

Are there any engineers left in Santa Cruz - they're Santa Cruz Operation, so they've gotta be in Santa Cruz, California, no? - or is it all Noo Yuck shysters now? (Rhetorical question, please don't answer!) Or have they moved to Santa Cruz, Mississippi, to take advantage of the, uhm, favourable climate there which serves the lawyers' well being so well?

(Sorry, the cat's on the kick of tracking the daily white lies that we've come to accept so readily - 41 million of hungry chilrun, 10% of us all are homoes, 10 million homeless, xx billions lost by the RIAA members, and so on.)

[Golden Eagle]

Thanks, those are the only copies I've seen and they're very difficult to read. The three way is Exhibit D, it appears.

[Nick Danger]

Has SCO claimed to own all the rights to CP/M yet?

You laugh, but this company actually did buy all the IP from Digital Research when it sank, so they presumably own CP/M.

They tried to make money selling DR-DOS, but finally struck gold when they gave up using it as software and instead used it as lawsuit fuel. Sorta like what they're doing now with UNIX. Reports vary as to exact amount, but they stung Microsoft for over a hundred million with that lawsuit. That's prolly where they got the idea for this lawsuit. Why sell and maintain code when you can just sue people with it and make a lot more money?

Whaaaaat a country. And Shakespeare was right about the lawyers.

[amigatec]

IIRC there were 1500 boxes of evidence for that case. Also the DAY that they bought DR-DOS was the day the suit was filed. And what is interesting is the a few days after the case was settled Bill Gates stepped down as CEO.

Maybe that had something to do with it.

[amigatec]

Let me aslo add that at least Novell did something with DR-DOS, the boot partition on Novell 5 is DR-DOS. And the rest reminds you of UNIX.

[Nick Danger]

Are there any engineers left in Santa Cruz - they're Santa Cruz Operation...

No, this company is not what we once knew as the Santa Cruz Operation. That company is still in business, and still in Santa Cruz, but they changed their name to Tarantella.

They sold their UNIXware business and apparently the "SCO" name, to Caldera in 2001. Caldera is a Utah company founded by Novell founder Ray Noorda after he was, erm, resigned from the board of Novell. Caldera just recently finished changing their official name to "The SCO Group, Inc."

I don't know if Noorda approved of this change. Ray Noorda was a visionary; he saw 'networking' in time to make Novell into a big company, and he had the foresight to name his new company "Caldera," which is the crater that remains following a volcanic explosion.

[Coral Snake]

I think they placed CP/M in the streight Public Domain due to obsolecence. However Canopy Group is still trying to make money out of DR-DOS as an "embedded system" through a new sunsidiary called Device Logics. Opening these obsolete systems that no longer have a real effect on the American economy or security is one thing that I can continue to agree with you Linux peopole about. However I believe that they should be opened under BSD or MIT licensing or simply placed in the Public Domain so that commercial as well as open source projects can take advantage of projects to update them, NOT the General Commie Virus(GPL) which essentially locks them up to "community" use only.

[ShadowAce]

NOT the General Commie Virus(GPL) which essentially locks them up to "community" use only.

No, it doesn't.