Notice that the journalist does not say, "But sir, IBM does indemnify its AIX users against IP infringement. Won't including an AIX customer bring IBM into the case? And won't IBM's first move be to ask the judge to combine the case with the existing lawsuit, since similar claims are at issue in both? And isn't that case scheduled to go to trial in 2005? How exactly is this going to "speed things up"? McBride never seems to get any hard questions from reporters, so he gets away with claiming that he wants to "speed things up" while simultaneously moving to make sure that any lawsuit he does file gets shoved into 2005. Why would he want that? Because SCO does not really want to go to court. They just want to rattle their swords in the press... while the Canopy Group shifts its properties around under the "shell" of SCO's press-inflated stock price.
See, if they really wanted to speed things up, they would sue some poor schmuck who can't afford very good lawyers and send David Boies in to squash him like a bug. But we don't see them doing that. That's because it would actually land them in a courtroom. And once they were on the docket, there's no telling what anonymous benefactor might send a busload of $800-an-hour lawyers from Cravath, Swaine, & Moore to help the poor guy out with his case. It could be quick all right, as in a summary judgement that end users are not liable for any of this stuff. That's the last thing McBride wants, so he won't risk going there. His job is to pump the price and stay out of court, for as long as possible. |
Watch the amazing SCO bouncing ball in action in this article. First McBride says he wants to sue a customer to speed things up. Then he says he's going to make it an IBM customer, hopefully one using AIX.