The SCO Group has targeted two US government agencies in an
escalation of its campaign to assert and protect its rights in the
UNIX operating system, parts of which the software company claims
were illegally copied into the Linux source code.
CNET News.com reports that the Department of Energy's Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and the National Energy
Research Scientific Computing Centre (NERSC) both received letters
from the company urging them to buy SCO's UnixWare license scheme
or run the risk of legal action.
SCO has been waging war against what it sees as rampant
copyright infringement of its rights in UNIX. It is suing IBM for
letting parts of UNIX 'slip' into Linux and this month sued two
Linux end-users, AutoZone, a Fortune 500 car parts retailer, and
DaimlerChrysler, alleging that their use of Linux is in breach of
SCO's copyright.
The end-user actions had been anticipated following letters that
were sent to 6,000 of SCO's existing licensees in December,
requesting confirmation that they were not in breach of their
licence agreements.
