Free Republic

Call it a new front in the war over open source: SCO's decision to seek licensing fees from Linux users has the IT industry--and IT investors--pondering the legality of building for-profit products on Linux. While the market's initial reaction to the SCO announcement boosted its share price, it's not at all clear that SCO understands what it's up against--or the opening it's giving industry titan IBM to line up as the defender of the little guy. Start with the fact that Linux isn't as much product as it is a movement. As the emblem of open source and brainchild of...

SCO Insider Trades Here's a list of all the insider trades since 2002 that I could find so far. I compiled it from SEC public records. I am seeing approximately $1,375,654 in sales since March. I can't guarantee 100% accuracy, though my eyeballs are melting and my head about to explode from trying for it. It's surely the big picture: 11-Aug-03 (8/8/03) - BENCH ROBERT K., CFO 7000 ... $10.90 . . . value= $76,300.00 221,043 shares still owned after transaction. 07-Aug-03 (8/5/03) BROUGHTON REGINALD CHARLES, Sr VP Int'l Sales 1900 . . . $12.57 . . . $23,883.00...

Invoice is in the Mail, Says SCO By Gavin Clarke SCO Group Inc is preparing to invoice customers running or developing with Linux, while broadening its copyright net to include manufacturers of embedded systems. The company told ComputerWire it would begin sending out invoices to organizations using Linux as a step towards enforcing SCO's claim that UnixWare System V code is used in Linux. Invoices will be dispatched in the "next weeks or months" a company spokesperson confirmed. Those being billed will include 1,500 end-users who were earlier this year informed by SCO in writing they should seek legal advice...

Old SCO Also Donated Code to Linux Well, knock me over with a feather. It turns out that old SCO, The Santa Cruz Operation, also donated code to Linux. There is an article dated June 12, 2000, that tells us all about their Linux distribution and their plans, which included scaling it to the enterprise, as marketroids like to call it: "While SCO may be rolling out its Linux distribution long after Red Hat and Caldera hit the market with theirs, SCO is no open source Johnny-come-lately. The company offers support services to Caldera and TurboLinux customers. In addition, the...

<p>Sometimes in a David and Goliath story, you want to root for Goliath.</p> <p>SCO, a small Utah software company, has made news lately by suing IBM, in its capacity as a big user of Linux. SCO also has its sights on all the other users of Linux, the free operating system that most people consider a bright spot of the modern tech world. Linux, after all, is run by volunteers, and its ever-growing popularity keeps Microsoft up at night. In other words, what's not to like?</p>

IBM's Affirmative Defenses: Take That! So far, Groklaw has covered a number of subjects, in relation to the SCO-IBM case. Here's a list of those that rated separate articles; the rest can be found in the SCO Archives: Patents and CopyrightsHow the 10th Circuit Defines Derivative CodeDeclaratory Judgments Discovery RulesTrade LibelTrade SecretsJudge Kimball's RecordLegal Links to information by others on relevant topics. Today, we'll cover IBM's affirmative defenses. First, what is an affirmative defense? Despite it's name, it's not just defensive in nature. It's a plaintiff's first opportunity to accuse back, as well as to raise issues that help it...

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - In the high-stakes legal showdown between Linux users and SCO Group Inc. SCOX.O over whether that company is owed unprecedented license fees, advocates for the free software on Thursday showed no signs of blinking at their biggest annual gathering. SCO, which claims its blueprint for Unix software is embedded illegally in versions of the free Linux operating system, is suing International Business Machines Corp. IBM.N for billions and has threatened companies that they must pay to use Linux or face litigation. But IBM and Linux distributor Red Hat Inc. RHAT.O fought back this week against Lindon,...

<p>SAN FRANCISCO—With legal terms such as liability, indemnification and lawsuit as prominent themes of the LinuxWorld show here, a small software company has addressed the issue with a solution to find offensive code.</p> <p>Aduva Inc., Sunnyvale, Calif., has developed a system known as OnStage that contains a feature known as SCO Check that will "conduct a complete inventory of your system and if SCO [The SCO Group] identifies some illegal code, we can do a check to find the code, identify it and then automate the replacement of that code" with Red Hat Linux or an appropriate fix, said Chris Van Tuin, director of customer service for Aduva.</p>

SCO Media Statement Re IBM Counterclaims         THURSDAY, AUGUST 07, 2003 4:17 PM - PR NewswireLINDON, Utah, Aug 07, 2003 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via Comtex/ -- We view IBM's counterclaim filing today as an effort to distract attention from its flawed Linux business model. It repeats the same unsubstantiated allegations made in Red Hat's filing earlier this week. If IBM were serious about addressing the real problems with Linux, it would offer full customer indemnification and move away from the GPL license. As the stakes continue to rise in the Linux battles, it becomes increasingly clear that the core issue is bigger than SCO (SCOX)...

<p>Government agencies must pay up to $699 for each copy of the Linux operating system that they use, the SCO Group Inc., Lindon, Utah, announced Tuesday in a new licensing program.</p> <p>However, SCO’s intellectual property claims over Linux remain contested by other parties.</p> <p>“We believe it is necessary for Linux customers to properly license SCO’s [intellectual property] if they are running Linux … for commercial purposes,” said Chris Sontag, who is a senior vice president of SCO. Use of any Linux distribution can cause liability, regardless of vendor, the company claimed.</p>

SCO wants $32 for each embedded Linux device By Rick Merritt EE Times August 6, 2003 (6:02 p.m. ET) SAN JOSE, Calif. The SCO Group said Tuesday (August 5) it wants $32 for each embedded system using Linux. That request stems from the Lindon, Utah company's claim that Linux versions 2.4 and above contains code that infringes on its Unix software. SCO is currently suing IBM Corp. for breech of contract for allegedly supplying some of that Unix code as part of the open source development process for Linux. After IBM, large businesses using Linux servers are SCO's first target....

On August 5th, Red Hat finally told The SCO Group and the world that they weren't going to take SCO's anti-Linux FUD anymore in a law suit filed in Delaware federal court against SCO. Reading from a prepared statement, Mark Webbink, Red Hat's general counsel said, "We filed this complaint to stop SCO from making unsubstantiated and untrue public statements attacking Red Hat Linux and the integrity of the open-source software development process." SCO isn't taking this lying down. SCO vehemently denies that they're spreading FUD. Instead, CEO and president Darl McBride claims that "We have been educating end users...

The SCO Group Inc. moved forward Tuesday with its plans to offer Linux users protection against a lawsuit by making available a license that gives them the rights to run the open-source operating system. The company is offering a SCO Intellectual Property License for Linux that permits the use of Linux without violating SCO Group's copyrighted Unix System V source code. SCO Group claims this code and derivative Unix code have been used without its permission to develop the Linux 2.4 and 2.5 kernels. Each run-time-only license will cost a one-time fee of $699 for a single-CPU system until Oct....

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- For five months, the SCO Group Inc.'s claims that its proprietary code was unlawfully copied into the Linux operating system have been challenged by angry programmers and open-source software supporters. On Monday, leading Linux distributor Red Hat Inc. jumped into the fray with a lawsuit that asks a court to decide if any of its software infringes of SCO's intellectual property. It also seeks an order that would bar SCO from making "unfair, untrue and deceptive" claims. "We're seeking a resolution ... to all the rhetoric as fast as possible," said Matthew Szulik, Red...

Red Hat Takes Aim at Infringement Claims; Complaint launched against SCO claims, Red Hat pledges $1MM to create fund to protect LinuxSAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 4, 2003--Red Hat (Nasdaq: RHAT) today made two significant announcements to protect Red Hat Linux customers and the worldwide Linux industry. First, Red Hat announced that it filed a formal complaint against The SCO Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: SCOX, "SCO"). The purpose of this complaint is to demonstrate that Red Hat's technologies do not infringe any intellectual property of SCO and to hold SCO accountable for its unfair and deceptive actions. "We filed this complaint to stop...

Q&A: Jonathan Schwartz, Sun Microsystems By Erin Joyce As the open source faithful prepare to descend upon the LinuxWorld Conference in San Francisco the first week in August, Sun Microsystems (Quote, Company Info) is fine-tuning its own Linux message, and alliances... Read the rest (2 pages) here: Page 1Page 2

Q&A: Jonathan Schwartz, Sun Microsystems By Erin Joyce As the open source faithful prepare to descend upon the LinuxWorld Conference in San Francisco the first week in August, Sun Microsystems (Quote, Company Info) is fine-tuning its own Linux message, and alliances... Read the rest (2 pages) here: Page 1Page 2

The Article Questioning SCO: A Hard Look at Nebulous ClaimsEben MoglenUsers of free software around the world are being pressured to pay The SCO Group, formerly Caldera, on the basis that SCO has “intellectual property” claims against the Linux operating system kernel or other free software that require users to buy a “license” from SCO. Allegations apparently serious have been made in an essentially unserious way: by press release, unaccompanied by evidence that would permit serious judgment of the factual basis for the claims. Firms that make significant use of free software are trying to evaluate the factual and legal...

SCO Group's ongoing legal action against IBM and end users of Linux has quietly left one company out of the dog fight: Sun Microsystems.In the legal battle, SCO is claiming that the Linux operating system IBM sells and that many other companies use runs infringes on intellectual property rights it holds to some Unix code.Sun has started to embrace Linux, though on a much smaller scale than have competitors Dell, Hewlett-Packard and IBM. However, it continues to back its Solaris version of Unix. Responding to a question from Silicon.com this week, Sun CEO Scott McNealy said: "I don’t want to...

31 July 2003 Scott McNealy, the chairman, president and CEO of systems vendor Sun Microsystems, has dramatically warned companies of the legal dangers of using open source software such as the Linux operating system. Following on from SCO Group's threats to sue Linux users over its intellectual property claims, McNealy told an audience of UK businesses that they should steer clear of open source software unless their suppliers can offer insurance against such legal action. "Don't touch open source software unless you have a team of intellectual property lawyers prepared to scour every single piece [of the open source code]....