El Reg reports
Linux is saved! Again!
[...]Last year, SCO managed to secure approval to re-open the case against IBM.
Groklaw's now posted a ruling(PDF) from last week in which Judge David Nuffer of the US District Court for the District of Utah appears to deliver good news for IBM.
The crucial bit of the ruling looks to be this paragraph:
SCO is bound by, and may not here re-litigate, the rulings in the Novell judgement that Novell (not SCO) owns the copyrights to the pre-1996 UNIX source code, and that Novell waived SCO's contract claims against IBM for alleged breaches of the licensing agreements pursuant to which IBM licensed such source code.
Interestingly, it looks like IBM is hurrying this one along: the ruling says Big Blue moved for partial summary [judgement] in the case. The ruling also appears to knock out SCO's claims that IBM has indulged in unfair competition or other commercial no-nos.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Saturday December 20 2014, @08:55PM
Once the opposition's only leg to stand on is kicked out from under them, any continuation of the claim is costly for everyone.
IBM has not chance to recover their legal costs from bankrupt SCO. Its standard practice to move for summary judgement in situations like these, not "hurrying it along", regardless of how The Register chose to phrase it.
Further, nothing in Linux violates any Unix copyrights. That point was proven in the first bunch of trials. Linux was never at risk here. It was all about whether IBM was using Linux to compete with SCO licenses, not claiming linux had any direct infringement.
SCO these days is a company of retired Lawyers holding a fist full of worthless copyrights. They have nothing to do, and nothing to lose by trying to get back into court.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by hemocyanin on Sunday December 21 2014, @01:53AM
From this vantage point in time, it all looks like a tempest in a tea cup, but back in 2003 I opened my own business and we used linux all over the place. Then the SCO thing broke and it was a little anxiety provoking. Lawsuits are a crapshoot and if SCO had won, who knows, I could have been billed enough to crush my fledgling business. Linux was actually at risk, and there was a lot of risk for business users as well. I think that is why the SCO stories still run -- it's good to see those motherfuckers who tried to screw me get crushed. But there was risk.
(Score: 3, Funny) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday December 20 2014, @09:42PM
Holy monkey... Did it become the 90s again overnight and nobody told me? Man, I so am not going to fit in any of my stonewashed jeans anymore.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 21 2014, @08:30AM
You are so old school SCO. We have systemd now. Just die. We have so many other things to worry about.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 22 2014, @01:57PM
pics or it didn't happen.
Did the judge use a belt, hand, switch?