IBM has dropped its patent infringement claims against The SCO Group, citing “insufficient economic reason” to pursue them. It is the latest twist in a long-running $5 billion dispute between SCO and IBM over the Linux operating system.
IBM also hopes to speed up the case, which has been dragging on since March 2003, when SCO first accused the firm of letting parts of UNIX 'slip' into Linux in breach of SCO's rights.
IBM counterclaimed, arguing firstly that SCO is in breach of the General Public Licence, or GPL, which underpins the distribution of most open source software, and then accusing SCO of infringing IBM's own intellectual property rights.
IBM, a major Linux distributor, dropped one of its patent claims against SCO last year, and has now decided not to pursue the remaining three. In a footnote to a document filed with the Utah District Court on 6th October, IBM’s lawyers explained:
"While IBM continues to believe that SCO infringed IBM's valid patents, IBM agreed to withdraw its patent counterclaims to simplify and focus the issues in this case and to expedite their resolution. The little discovery that SCO has produced regarding IBM's patent claims makes clear that there is insufficient economic reason to pursue these claims. Since SCO's sales have been, and are, limited, a finding of infringement would yield only the most modest royalty or award of damages and would not justify the expense of continuing prosecution of these claims."
However, IBM is still pursuing eight remaining counterclaims and the case is continuing.
In a hearing on Friday, Judge Brooke Wells denied a SCO request that IBM be ordered to produce more material as part of the discovery process – the means by which one party ensures that it is given access to documents held by the other side.
SCO had asked that 25 more depositions be taken, but Judge Wells would only permit 10 more depositions on either side, and stressed that these had to be provided within the timetable already set by the court.
SCO has been criticised by some commentators for using delaying tactics in the course of the case.
