Court Sides With SCO Group Over Unix Copyright
A three-judge panel of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday reversed a judge’s ruling made in August 2007 that granted copyright of the Unix operating system to Novell Inc.
The appellate panel also ordered a trial to determine ownership.
Novell, a software and computer infrastructure firm, has operations in Provo, Utah, and Waltham, Massachusetts. The company has been in a longstanding legal dispute with Lindon, Utah-based SCO Group Inc. over ownership to the Unix copyright.
After years of unsuccessful lawsuits to stop what SCO said was misappropriation of its code by developers of the Linux operating system, SCO sought bankruptcy protection in 2007.
The appellate ruling now paves the way for resumption of the court case, the Associated Press quoted the SCO as saying.
"For us it’s a case of survival, of protecting what we own,” said SCO chief executive Darl McBride during an interview with the AP.
AT&T developed part of the Unix code in 1969, and it is now used in the Linux operating system. However, the development and distribution of Linux caused SCO’s annual revenues to plummet from $250 million to $15 million, forcing the company to file for bankruptcy.
"There are 20 million versions of Linux running around the world," McBride said.
"Linux at the end of the day is a knock off of our Unix,” he said.
SCO has also filed a separate lawsuit, now pending, against IBM Corp. That suit alleges that IBM’s Unix license for its core AIX system was canceled in 2003, and that the company improperly gave away Unix source code for use in Linux.
The appellate panel’s ruling reinstates SCO’s claims against IBM, McBride said, which had been previously dismissed due to Novell’s claim to the Unix copyright.
Trial dates for SCO’s lawsuits against both IBM and Novell have not been announced. Both cases are currently pending in the U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City.
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