According to the complaint – which has yet to be approved by the
court – SCO alleges that Novell has infringed “and continues to
infringe SCO's copyrights by copying, reproducing, modifying,
sublicensing and/or distributing Linux products containing
unauthorised contributions of SCO's copyrighted intellectual
property.”
Some have queried the move, asking why SCO would bring a
copyright charge into the case now – two years after originally
suing the Linux supplier.
Background
The complicated dispute dates back to February 1985 when IBM
entered into a licence agreement with the then owner of the UNIX
system, AT&T, in order to produce its own AIX operating system.
The agreements required that IBM hold the UNIX software code in
confidence, and prohibited unauthorised distribution or
transfer.
In 1992, AT&T sold UNIX to Novell. Then, in 1995, the Santa
Cruz Operation purchased rights in UNIX from Novell, including
source code, source documentation, software development contracts,
licenses and other intellectual property.
The initial contract specifically excluded copyright from the
sale, while an amendment, dated October 1996, again specifically
excluded copyrights, with the exception of “the copyrights and
trade marks owned by Novell as of the date of the [contract]
required for Santa Cruz Operations to exercise its rights with
respect to the acquisition of UNIX and Unixware technologies."
The Santa Cruz Operation sold on these rights to Caldera
International, which subsequently changed its name to The SCO
Group.
In a series of lawsuits filed since March 2003, SCO has claimed
intellectual property rights to parts of UNIX and Linux.
At first, it focused on suing IBM, saying it let parts of UNIX
‘slip’ into the Linux operating system in breach of SCO’s rights.
Then SCO looked to end users, suing both AutoZone and
DaimlerChrysler for damages and an injunction against their use of
what SCO said was its source code.
It then became embroiled in a separate action against Novell,
concerning the exact scope of the rights acquired by SCO in
1995.
Initially, SCO claimed to own patents in UNIX; now it talks only
of copyrights and "other" intellectual property rights. But Novell
believes that Novell still owns important copyrights in the UNIX
system, and has publicised the fact.
In January 2004, SCO filed a slander suit against Novell – a
suit that Novell has twice failed to have dismissed – seeking to
silence Novell’s copyright claims. Novell counterclaimed last year,
accusing SCO of slander in claiming that SCO rather than Novell
owns the UNIX copyrights.
Next stage
The Novell case is due to come to trial before Utah District
Court Judge Dale Kimball on 25th June 2007, according to
reports. The IBM suit is expected to come to court earlier, on
27th February 2007.
