Court Rules: Novell owns the UNIX and UnixWare copyrights!

[Jerry Feldman]

On Sat, 11 Aug 2007 18:25:25 -0400
"Bill Bogstad" <bogstad-e+AXbWqSrlAAvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org> wrote:

> From my understanding, the reason that the original SCO (not SCOX) and No=
vell
> deal was set up the way it was (i.e. Novell still owns the copyright)
> was because
> they wanted to retain control of licensing if the original SCO went bankr=
upt.

Yes, this is true. Novell wanted to retain the IP in case of
bankruptcy.=20

> I'd guess that condition would also apply to SCOX.   I don't know how the=
 major
> UNIX licensees would feel about Novell directly controlling licensing,
> but I don't see
> a major problem with that.

SCOX bought the Unix division from The Santa Cruz Operation. They could
not receive anything that The Santa Cruz Operation did not own. Not
sure if anyone at Caldera may have been aware that The Santa Cruz
Operation did not own the copyrights. Why would the Unix licensees have
problems with Novell. Many of them, such as IBM, HP, Sun, SGI acquired
their licenses directly from AT&T, and they certainly were aware that
Novell received it from AT&T, and Novell also sold the Unix brand to
The Open Group.=20

In any case, if Caldera International (eg SCOX) was led to believe that
the copyrights transferred to them from The Santa Cruz Operation, then
this would open the door for them to sue Sun (who acquired Tarantella -
which was formerly The Santa Cruz Operation).=20

The Daubert Hearing is Sept 11th, and the trial is September 17th. Most
of the pretrial motions should be ruled on by then. Novell is trying
to exclude much expert testimony.=20

The SCO vs. IBM case is a bit less interesting because regardless of
that outcome, Linux is unaffected. Essentially, SCO vs. IBM essentially
reverts to a breech of contract.=20


--=20
Jerry Feldman <gaf-mNDKBlG2WHs at public.gmane.org>
Boston Linux and Unix user group
http://www.blu.org PGP key id:C5061EA9
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