Firm Foundation Technology, LLC's Small Business Update
for Monday June 14th, 2004
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Headlines
All Legal MumboJumbo Issue
- SCO vs The World
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All Legal Mumbo-Jumbo Issue, Part 1
I really hope you stick with me during the next two week's installments. They're a little longer than usual, but I'm going to try to give a brief summary of the two major legal conflicts going on right now in the software industry. I'm not a lawyer so you can rest easy that you will not get mind warp from the legal Mumbo-Jumbo. On with the show.
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- SCO vs The World
A long time ago (in computer terms at least) AT&T acquired one of the versions of the Unix Operating System. During the late 1980's they sold it to Novell. The then CEO of Novell wanted to combine Unix and Novell's flagship OS (Operating System), NetWare, to make a "SuperNOS." SuperNOS was the actual development name for an OS product that never worked out. So Novell sort of sold the Unix rights (stay with me here) and source code to another company, who sold it to the company that is today called The SCO Group. There were some other contracts in the 1990's that passed between the two companies that altered the deal some more, but in a very vague way.
Flash forward to 2003: the free Unix clone called Linux is gaining a lot of ground, mostly at the expense of Unix. SCO decides that "Whoops, it looks like there's some Unix source code in Linux, and by golly that's ours, not yours." So who do they sue? IBM. SCO claims that IBM contributed source code from its Unix version, called AIX, to Linux, violating the contract IBM has with SCO. (AIX is based on the version of Unix SCO maintains.) They asked for one BILLION dollars in damages.
Later SCO raises the stakes to three BILLION dollars by adding the complaint that IBM violated SCO's copyright on Unix. Now it really gets murky. Novell and SCO then started to face off in court because it was never crystal clear in the contract and its amendments what was actually sold to SCO by Novell and what Novell licensed to SCO. I've read the relevant sections of the contracts and amendments and they are bizarre. Now I know why there is a slow move to force lawyers to write everything in crystal clear straightforward language.
SCO has also sued DaimlerChrysler and AutoZone, saying that since they use Linux they are trampling on SCO's rights associated with Unix. Incidentally, there are now two other minor lawsuits being brought against SCO related to this case.
So far SCO has not publicly identified the source code it said was illegally copied by IBM. The trial won't even start until November of 2005, so who knows when the public will see the evidence or lack thereof. In the meantime, if SCO loses the suit against Novell over who really owns the rights to UNIX, the IBM suit probably will wither away.
The Small Business Impact
If you are interested in using Linux now for any business-critical function and have skittish lawyers, your best bet is to acquire and run a Linux version meeting the terms of the indemnity coverage provided by HP or Novell. See each company for full details and conditions. I'd be happy to explain my understanding of the programs if you have any questions.
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See you next week for Part 2
Stan
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