Novell Says Waiver Cancels SCO's Claims on Linux
By Bob Mims
LinuxInsider
February 13, 2004
"This doesn't change a thing," SCO spokesman Blake Stowell said Thursday. "It remains SCO's strongly held legal position that Novell has no rights to step in and change or alter the source code license agreements that SCO owns and holds with its Unix licensees."
Novell (Nasdaq: NOVL) Inc., claiming it sold only limited rights to the Unix operating system in 1995, has issued a waiver it says negates the SCO Group's claims on the offshoot, freely distributed Linux operating system.
Claiming the purchase excluded control of "derivative works," or improvements to the program's code by independent developers, Novell had given SCO until noon Wednesday to retract its claim that Unix code was illegally imported into Linux.
That allegation is at the heart of SCO's federal lawsuit against IBM (NYSE: IBM) , which seeks damages and penalties of up to $50 billion for Big Blue's distribution of allegedly tainted versions of Linux.
After SCO ignored the deadline, insisting it held all rights to Unix, Novell wrote the Lindon-based software company late Wednesday stating it "waives any purported right SCO may claim" to restrict use of the 1995 Unix code.
"This doesn't change a thing," SCO spokesman Blake Stowell said Thursday. "It remains SCO's strongly held legal position that Novell has no rights to step in and change or alter the source code license agreements that SCO owns and holds with its Unix licensees."
Contrary to Novell's claims that it had a contractual right to issue the Unix-use waiver on a recalcitrant SCO's behalf, Stowell said that "SCO has no intention of waiving any of its rights against . . . IBM."
Novell Seeking Dismissal
As for Novell's claims to retain certain Unix rights, "We will deal with Novell on all of these issues in court," Stowell added.
IBM spokesman Mike Darcy declined to comment, as did Novell's Bruce Lowry. "Our letter speaks for itself," Lowry said.
Novell also is seeking dismissal of a corporate title-slander lawsuit filed by SCO, which in turn is being sued by leading Linux distributor Red Hat Inc (Nasdaq: RHAT) . over its Unix-Linux claims.
The flare-up with Novell came as SCO and IBM await U.S. Magistrate Brooke Wells' potentially decisive rulings possibly today or early next week on competing motions to compel evidence.
IBM attorneys argued last Friday that SCO has failed to provide specific, detailed proof for its Unix-Linux allegations; SCO contends it cannot do so without IBM providing code requested in an earlier motion.
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