From Internet.com
Laying the ground work to take its battle with Linux directly to Linux customers, SCO Group (Quote, Company Info) said it has received U.S. copyright registrations for its Unix System V source code, just the firepower it needs to pursue copyright violation suits.
Until now, SCO's conflict with Linux, which it claims is an unauthorized derivation of its Unix code, has centered on a breach of contract suit aimed at IBM (Quote, Company Info). But with the copyrights in hand, SCO said using Linux is essentially software piracy, and it is ready to open a new revenue stream by giving Linux users immunity to copyright violations through licensing.
*muddys note*
SCO stands for Microsoft whipping boys!
Steve Balmer and buddies have said for years they were going to take out linux so they didn't have to compete against it. Well this is their back door way, I hope that Balmer and the rest of his butt buddies at SCO remember they don't serve ice water in hell :-P
The company said it plans to offer UnixWare licenses tailored to support run-time, binary use of Linux for all commercial users of Linux based on the 2.4.x and later versions of the Linux kernel. SCO said any commercial Linux customers that purchase the license will be held harmless against past copyright violations and for any future use of Linux in a run-only, binary format.
"Since the year 2001, commercial Linux customers have been purchasing and receiving software that includes misappropriated Unix software owned by SCO," said Chris Sontag, senior vice president and general manager of SCOsource, the company's intellectual property unit. "While using pirated software is copyright infringement, our first choice in helping Linux customers is to give them an option that will not disrupt their IT infrastructures. We intend to provide them with choices to help them run Linux in a legal and fully-paid for way."
The company said Linux's Symmetrical Multi-Processing (SMP) capabilities are a derived from Unix System V and its derivative works (like IBM's AIX).
"For several months, SCO has focused primarily on IBM's alleged Unix contract violations and misappropriation of Unix source code," said Darl McBride, president and CEO of SCO Group. "Today, we're stating that the alleged actions of IBM and others have caused customers to use a tainted product at SCO's expense. With more than 2.4 million Linux servers running our software, and thousands more running Linux every day, we expect SCO to be compensated for the benefits realized by tens of thousands of customers. Though we possess broad legal rights, we plan to use these carefully and judiciously."
SCO said it will begin contacting companies regarding their use of Linux this week, and give them the option of buying a UnixWare license. The company's stock price rocketed up about 15 percent, to $13.75 a share, in mid-morning trading after the licensing plan was unveiled.
SCO's crusade against Linux began with IBM. On March 6, the company sent a letter to IBM Chairman and CEO Sam Palmisano, warning him that IBM had allegedly breached its contract with SCO by contributing portions of its Unix-based AIX code to the open source movement, and by introducing concepts from Project Monterey, a joint effort by SCO and IBM to develop a 64-bit Unix-based operating system for Intel-based processing platforms, into Linux. IBM scrapped Project Monterey in May 2001.
But in the meantime, while maintaining that its problems were with IBM and the alleged violation of its contract, SCO has also been giving customers notice. In May, it sent a letter to some 1,350 companies that use Linux, warning them, "similar to analogous efforts underway in the music industry, we are prepared to take all actions necessary to stop the ongoing violation of our intellectual property or other rights."
It also issued a statement that "Linux is an unauthorized derivative of Unix and that legal liability for the use of Linux may extend to commercial users."
While the case against IBM is still in the initial phases, SCO has already terminated IBM's license for the AIX operating system. IBM maintains the license is perpetual and irrevocable, and continues selling AIX.
Posted by Muddy at July 21, 2003 11:52 AM | TrackBack