Red Hat also launched the Open Source Now Fund, to cover legal expenses in SCO-filed infringement claims.
The moves are the latest in a bitter battle between software company SCO and the Linux community. It began in March this year when SCO accused IBM of breaching SCO's patents in the UNIX operating system.
SCO sued IBM for $1 billion, alleging that it gave UNIX rights away to Linux. In May, SCO warned that Linux is an unauthorized derivative of UNIX and that legal liability for the use of Linux may extend to commercial users. It suspended all of its future sales of the Linux operating system until further notice.
Since then SCO has registered copyrights in critical UNIX source codes (in the US, unlike the UK, there is a system of copyright registration), and in July it announced that it would begin contacting companies about their use of Linux and offer them the chance to purchase a UnixWare license. The implication with this was that those companies that did not purchase such a license would find themselves on the wrong end of an infringement suit.
The Linux community has been outraged by SCO, but this is the first legal action that has been taken against it. The complaint was filed in the US District Court for Delaware and, according to Red Hat, its purpose is to demonstrate that Red Hat's technologies do not infringe any intellectual property of SCO and to hold SCO accountable for its unfair and deceptive actions.
"We filed this complaint to stop SCO from making unsubstantiated and untrue public statements attacking Red Hat Linux and the integrity of the Open Source software development process," said Mark Webbink, General Counsel at Red Hat.
According to CNet News.com, the suit includes a request for a preliminary injunction that will prevent SCO from alleging that Red Hat is infringing upon SCO's patents or copyrights. It asks for damages as well – triple those suffered by Red Hat as a result of:
"harm caused by SCO's unfair competition and false advertising... unfair and deceptive (trade) practices... as well as for violations of common law, including trade libel, unfair competition and tortious interference with prospective economic advantage."
Red Hat also announced the launch of the Open Source Now Fund, designed to protect the integrity of Open Source software and the Open Source community.
The purpose of the fund is to cover legal expenses associated with infringement claims brought against companies developing software under the GPL license and non-profit organisations supporting the efforts of companies developing software under a GPL license. Red Hat has pledged one million dollars to kick-start the fund.
"The collaborative process of Open Source software development which created the Linux operating system has been unjustly questioned and threatened," said Matthew Szulik, Chairman and CEO of Red Hat. "In its role as industry leader, Red Hat has a responsibility to ensure the legal rights of users are protected."
The SCO Group has not yet made any comment.
More information on the Open Source Now Fund is available by e-mailing: opensourcenow@redhat.com
