SCO Fails to Comply Fully with Court Order.
SCO Group Inc has responded to a court order to produce evidence of its legal claims against IBM Corp, although it has failed to comply fully with the demand to provide details of its claims.In December the Lindon, Utah-based Unix software vendor was given 30 days by the US District Court of Utah to produce evidence supporting its claim that IBM has contributed Unix code to the open source Linux operating system.
SCO was ordered to act after IBM filed two separate motions to compel discovery in Ocober and November 2003, in which IBM asked the court to force SCO to reveal in detail what its claims are and what evidence it has.
SCO was given until January 12 to provide details of, among other things: the specific lines of code that it claims have been passed into Linux, the trade secrets it believes IBM has misappropriated, and details of the agreements that SCO says IBM has breached.
For many following the case, these are the details they have been waiting to see since SCO launched its claims that Linux contains Unix code in early 2003. Most people will not get to see the details, however, thanks to a protective order agreed in December to keep the trade secrets secret.
And indeed, it appears that IBM and the court may not get to see all the details they were looking for. According to SCO's notice of compliance with the court order, the company "has responded fully and in detail... based on the information in SCO's possession", although it then goes on to outline how it has failed to respond in time.
The company stated that it has been unable to produce the files of certain officers and directors because it could not obtain the material in time to review it before the deadline. It remains to be seen how the court will respond to this exception, although SCO has complied with the court order by providing an explanation of its efforts to obtain the files.
The company stated that its responses exceed 60 pages, which does not seem to be a lot given that it has claimed over a million lines of Unix code has been passed into Linux. The company also reserved the right to add to its answers at a later date, particularly after it has received discovery from IBM.
SCO has claimed in the past that it was unable to specify the code that it believes IBM had copied from Unix into Linux because it did not have copies of IBM's AIX and Dynix Unix versions. The argument that IBM should tell SCO what code it has before SCO tells the court if it has any claim on it did not wash with the court, however, which stayed SCO's motion to compel IBM to produce the code until after it had outlined its evidence.
SCO's request for more details on AIX, as well as IBM's reaction to SCO's response to the court order, are expected to be heard during a hearing on January 23. The Linux industry will have to wait until then to see how the court responds to SCO's notice of compliance with the court order containing admittance of non-compliance.
Meanwhile, SCO has also announced that its Intellectual Property License for Linux, designed to enable Linux users to avoid infringing on Unix code that it claims is in Linux, is now available worldwide.
First launched in August 2003, the IP license costs $699 per server and $199 per desktop, and ensures that SCO will not sue customers who purchase a license for copyright infringement. The license has sparked a storm among the Linux community, which claims SCO has failed to provide evidence that there is Unix code in Linux.
The license is now available in Europe and through SCO's reseller channel, according to the company.
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| Title Annotation: | SCO Group Inc |
|---|---|
| Publication: | Computergram International |
| Geographic Code: | 1USA |
| Date: | Jan 15, 2004 |
| Words: | 641 |
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