SCO ups IBM legal claim to US$5 billion
SCO ups IBM legal claim to US$5 billion
Linux user pursuer SCO is looking to tack on further clauses of action against IBM as part of its legal claim against Big Blue, raising the total claim from US$3 billion to US$5 billion.
Just prior to a court hearing in Salt Lake City on Friday, SCO submitted an amended complaint which included two new actions against IBM, each of which amounts to a claim for damages of at least US$1 billion.
The amended lawsuit also sees SCO markedly altering the basis of the complaint. In the original US$3 billion action, launched early last year to the shock of the IT community, SCO alleged that IBM had misappropriated SCO trade secrets in its Linux developments. This claim has now been dropped by SCO, which is now pursuing IBM over what it claims has been a violation of IBM's contract with SCO through the creation of derivative works based on code controlled by SCO and on new copyright related issues.
Since the original legal challenge was thrown down by SCO, much of the Linux community has become enveloped in the row, with Linux companies Novell and Red Hat involved in separate legal disputes with SCO.
SCO has also started writing to large enterprise Linux users around the world, pressing for such companies to purchase licenses from SCO for the use of its code within the Linux O/S. Companies on the receiving end of these letters have, by and large, chosen to ignore requests for payment, choosing instead to wait and see how the various court cases pan out.
The Open Source Development Labs has also set up a legal fighting fund to offer financial assistance to companies that are pursued in the courts by SCO for using Linux without paying SCO a fee, while Linux companies such as HP and Red Hat have offered to indemnify their customers in the event of legal claims from SCO.
Meanwhile, last week, SCO was forced to created a new URL for its website, after the MyDoom virus, thought to have been created by disgruntled Linux users, bombarded SCO's regular website with requests for data, knocking the site offline.
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