Begun, this war has..

[Charles Curley]

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On Wed, May 14, 2003 at 04:31:28PM -0600, Jayce^ wrote:
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> http://www.sco.com/scosource/letter_to_linux_customers.html
>=20
> Basically, a letter from SCO, stating that Linux has only been developed =
by=20
> people who used to have access to SCO's ip, and because of it's free natu=
re,=20
> it didn't verify their source.
>=20
> Because of this, all linux is built off their IP, and subject to their=20
> lawsuit.  They have even stopped work on their own version pending their =
own=20
> lawsuit.
>=20
> A favorite quote:
> "Therefore legal liability that may arise from the Linux development proc=
ess=20
> may also rest with the end user. "
>=20
> Umm.  We are all liable in the SCO lawsuit, according to them.


Maybe there is an attorney on the list who can comment on this, but it
seems to me that this is a scare tactic.=20

* Their attorneys probably told them to stop sales of Linux before
  they got into court and IBM made a laughing stock of them.

* IBM is the only defendant in the suit. They would have to win the
  IBM suit in order to have any chance in any other suit, and any such
  suit would have to be preceeded with a cease and desist letter. So
  far as I know, SCO has not sent out any C&D letters to anyone,
  except, I assume, IBM.

SCO is not doing well in the Linux market, so it costs them little to
stop sales.

The letter says in part, "There is no mechanism inherent in the Linux
development process to assure that intellectual property rights,
confidentiality or security are protected. The Linux process does not
prevent inclusion of code that has been stolen outright, or developed
by improper use of proprietary methods and concepts."

This is false. The Linux kernel is released under the GPL, which
requires that the author copyright the material so licensed. In order
to copyright anything, you must first own what you are
copyrighting. This is well established law. Authors are routinely
required to warrant that they own the rights to what they are selling
(although even at large shops software engineers usually
aren't). Thus, the terms of the GPL itself enforce IP.

--=20

Charles Curley                  /"\    ASCII Ribbon Campaign
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