Novell sued by SCO over Unix copyright claims
Novell sued by SCO over Unix copyright claims
Novell has become the latest company to be on the receiving end of litigation from the SCO Group, with SCO alleging that Novell has made false claims that it controls the Unix operating system.
Novell has been accused of slander by SCO, which is seeking to have an order imposed on Novell which would force the software maker to assign to SCO all Unix-related copyrights in its possession, as well as forcing it to withdraw any statements made by Novell claiming ownership of Unix.
SCO is already involved in legal fights with IBM and Linux distributor Red Hat, as it is claiming that part of its Unix intellectual properly is being used in Linux, thereby infringing its copyright. SCO has also started to contact enterprise Linux users around the world, seeking license fees for the continued use of Linux, with the threat of legal action against those who continue to use Linux without providing SCO with financial recompense already having been alluded to by the company. It would appear that SCO's lawyers will be coining it in this year.
On the latest spat with Novell, SCO lawyer Mark Heise said in a statement: "SCO takes this action today, given Novell's recent and repeated announcements regarding their claimed ownership of the Unix and UnixWare copyrights. SCO has received many questions about Novell's actions from potential customers, investors and the press. Although SCO owns the Unix and UnixWare copyrights, Novell's efforts to claim ownership of these copyrights has forced this action."
The Linux community has started to wake up to the threat posed by SCO, with a number of companies and organisations offering indemnity to Linux users against legal action from SCO.
The Open Source Development Labs (OSDL), a consortium of companies working with Linux, has set up a US$10 million legal defence fund. Red Hat has also set up a defence fund to protect open source programmers, while Novell and HP have both offered their customers indemnity against legal action over Linux.
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