Novell Beats SCO…Again

March 31, 2010 By Geoff Duncan

A Utah jury has confirmed Novell owns the copyrights to Unix, perhaps putting the final nail in the coffin of SCO's year's-long legal battle.

It’s one thing to vow that you won’t go down without a fight…and it’s another to tilt at windmills. A Utah jury has found that Novell owns the copyrights to Unix. The ruling perhaps puts the final nail in the coffin of SCO‘s claims that Linux infringes on copyright it acquired from Novell…although SCO still maintains Linux includes proprietary code that would need to be licensed from SCO.

“This decision is good news for Novell, for Linux, and for the open source community,” said Novell CEO and presidents Ron Hovsepian, in a statement. “We have long contended that this effort against Linux has no foundation, and we are pleased that the jury, in a unanimous decision, agrees. I am proud of Novell’s role in protecting the best interests of Linux and the open source community.”

The case dates back to 2003. SCO claimed it purchased Unix copyrights from Novell when it sold its Unix business to SCO; SCO also claims IBM misappropriated proprietary Unix code and illegally included it in the open source Unix operating system. To date, despite high-flying claims of irrefutable evidence and several trials, SCO has yet to demonstrate a single instance of misappropriated code.

SCO’s long-running attacks on Linux have made the company a pilloried figure in the open source community. Although SCO has won a few legal victories—most notably a ruling that led to a this re-consideration of Novell’s copyrights—the drawn out legal battle has forced the company into bankruptcy.

The Utah jury’s finding apparently puts an end to SCO’s pursuit of the Unix copyrights; however, the company says it intends to continue pushing on with its claims IBM misappropriated code, basing its arguments on contract law rather than copyright law.

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Book smarts: Why Barnes & Noble is wheeling out big legal guns to back the Nook | My Blog at 9:07pm 1st December 2011 [...] At the same time, Barnes Noble appears to be amping up its legal defense against Microsoft, adding noted attorney David Boies to its team. (The high-profile addition was first noted by FOSS Patents.) Boies was in the news most recently for representing players in the recent NBA lockout, but he has some notoriety in tech circles, too. He’s best known for leading one of the firms heading up Oracle’s patent battle against Google over Java in Android, and for leading the U.S. Justice Department’s monopoly case against Microsoft back in the 1990s. The software company SCO also used Boies in its quixotic, long-term battle against Linux, which eventually ended in SCO’s categorical defeat. [...]
Book smarts: Why Barnes & Noble is wheeling out big legal guns to back the Nook at 2:26pm 1st December 2011 [...] used Boies in its quixotic, long-term battle against Linux, which eventually ended in SCO’s categorical defeat.Barnes & Noble might be having success with its Nook, but why is it sinking considerable [...]
carlosribeiro at 9:39pm 31st March 2010 GETTING CONFUSED about COPYRIGHT PROTECTION ...

Take a look at this enlightening funny video that explains COPYRIGHT protections.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyUs8F4m5bM

IF YOU LOVE LINUX OR IF LINUX HAS MADE YOU A BETTER GLOBALIZED COMPANY OR PERSON PLEASE INVIST 10 MINUTS OF YOUR LOVELY LIFE, BECAUSE ABOUT TWO YEARS AGO NOVELL ALSO HAS MADE A PREVIOUS AGREEMENT WITH MICROSOFT AND ONE OF THE HOT TOPICS OF THIS AGREEMENT WAS INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS PROTECTION FOR LINUX USERS.

NOW WITH THIS NEW BRAND VICTORY ..
OUR LINUX IS SAP READY !!!
OUR LINUX IS MAINFRAME READY !!!
OUR LINUX IS DATACENTER READY !!!
OUR LINUX IS ENTERPRISE BUSINESS READY !!!

AND YOU...
ARE YOU READY FOR LINUX !!!

by
Carlos Ribeiro