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SCO to sue Linux user Tuesday
CNET News.com ^ | March 1, 2004, 4:35 PM PST | Stephen Shankland

Posted on 03/01/2004 4:53:45 PM PST by Bush2000

SCO to sue Linux user Tuesday
Last modified: March 1, 2004, 4:35 PM PST
By Stephen Shankland
Staff Writer, CNET News.com

SAN FRANCISCO--The SCO Group plans to expand its Linux legal attack on Tuesday by filing a lawsuit against a large company using the open-source operating system.

SCO Chief Executive Darl McBride announced the plan Monday at the Software 2004 conference here, but he didn't identify the company beyond saying it would have a recognized name.

SCO, which owns a disputed amount of Unix intellectual property and claims some of the code was improperly used in Linux, threatened in November to sue Linux users, although it missed a self-imposed mid-February deadline.

"We missed by a couple weeks. The first one won't show up until tomorrow," McBride said. After his speech he said the company has two potential targets.

"We've been in communication with them" about the license issue, McBride said. "Now it's time to move to the litigation part of the enforcement."

(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Technical
KEYWORDS: bastards; linux; litigious; pumpanddump; sco; scoextortion
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1 posted on 03/01/2004 4:53:45 PM PST by Bush2000
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To: Bush2000
You're just having too much fun. ;-)
2 posted on 03/01/2004 4:54:58 PM PST by TomServo ("Stay together, cheeks...")
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To: TomServo
Unquestionably the fastest way for the U.S. to build wealth is to manufacture lawsuits...
3 posted on 03/01/2004 4:55:59 PM PST by Gunslingr3
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To: Gunslingr3
Unquestionably the fastest way for the U.S. to build wealth is to manufacture lawsuits...

Or break contracts with a small company, as IBM is alleged to have done.
4 posted on 03/01/2004 4:58:37 PM PST by Bush2000
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To: Bush2000
Or break contracts with a small company, as IBM is alleged to have done.

That will surely manufacture more lawsuits! We'll all be rich!

5 posted on 03/01/2004 5:00:16 PM PST by Gunslingr3
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To: Gunslingr3
It appears SCO's attempt to extort money from Google failed since they postponed their IPO indifinitely. Now it is time for SCO to spend more of uncle Bill's money on David Boies.
6 posted on 03/01/2004 5:09:07 PM PST by MediaMole
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To: MediaMole
It appears SCO's attempt to extort money from Google failed since they postponed their IPO indifinitely.

Who cares. They still have cash in the bank.
7 posted on 03/01/2004 5:11:38 PM PST by Bush2000
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To: Bush2000
They still have cash in the bank.

For now.

8 posted on 03/01/2004 5:30:19 PM PST by TechJunkYard
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To: Bush2000
...and the lucky user is....
9 posted on 03/01/2004 5:37:54 PM PST by Pearls Before Swine
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To: Bush2000
Didn't like the way your last thread was going?
10 posted on 03/01/2004 5:45:49 PM PST by justlurking
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To: Bush2000
.. threatened in November to sue Linux users, although it missed a self-imposed mid-February deadline.

Of course! I should have realized... the quarterly earnings report is due this week and they need a diversion to capture the investors' attention while they roll out the embarassing numbers for the analysts.

Some patsies out there are still looking for $45. Heh. Get ready for a dump.

11 posted on 03/01/2004 5:58:06 PM PST by TechJunkYard
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To: Bush2000
There is a growing realization that after the gold rush ends, the folks with the rights to the gold mines are the ones left in business. The pan handlers are out of luck.

SCO is just one of many companies attempting to assert such rights, and the courts will determine the validity (which many doubt will withstand).

Even if SCO fails, this is just the beginning of the end of the first era. Copyrights and patents will continue to be asserted during the year. Consider the growing rate of software patent infringement cases [against Ebay, Microsoft, paypal, the adult business, and many other business groups]. Even Google has been amassing a patent portfolio. The number of software related lawsuits are increasing dramatically, and this gives credence to the end of the first era philosophy.

I am sure by now all of the freepers have read the entire 101 pages of the "PROMOTING INNOVATION AND ECONOMIC GROWTH: THE SPECIAL PROBLEM OF DIGITAL INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY", A Report by the Digital Connections Council of the Committee for Economic Development. The report is trying not a policy, nor a recommendation, but only a report for learning about copyright issues. It did not really touch on the subject of software patents, but ultimately that too will have to be dealt with.

On the plus side, welcome to the beginning of the dawn of the next era.

12 posted on 03/01/2004 6:03:53 PM PST by rit
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To: justlurking
To: Bush2000
Didn't like the way your last thread was going?

Must not have since he had the mod pull it.

13 posted on 03/01/2004 6:06:41 PM PST by AFreeBird (your mileage may vary)
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To: AFreeBird
Must not have since he had the mod pull it.

I posted some info about an out-of-court settlement in which SCO (Germany) was agreed to stop making the same claims they are making in the US, or be fined about $12,500 per occurrence. I went to dinner and returned to see if anyone had anything to add, and found the thread had disappeared.

Frankly, I was surprised. B2K is usually willing to debate endlessly with anyone, but I've never observed him to complain to the moderators, much less delete an entire thread. A while back, I saw a couple of threads deleted due to "too many complaints" after B2K got into it with multiple people at a time, but I didn't think he was doing the complaining.

I'm really curious about what happened.

14 posted on 03/01/2004 6:17:06 PM PST by justlurking
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To: justlurking
Please repost that info here. I'd like to read it.
15 posted on 03/01/2004 6:21:10 PM PST by flashbunny (Taxes are not levied for the benefit of the taxed.)
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To: flashbunny
Please repost that info here. I'd like to read it.

Here's the URL:

http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20040301025634926

It's a translation of an article in German.

16 posted on 03/01/2004 6:26:24 PM PST by justlurking
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To: justlurking
Thanks. I like the terms of the settlement:

Details of the settlement from the article:

1) SCO Group GmbH (German branch of SCO) has agreed not to allege any more that Linux contains SCO's unlawfully acquired intellectual property.

2) The settlement also forbids SCO from claiming that if end users are running Linux they might be liable for breaches of SCO's intellectual property.

3) Also they cannot say that Linux is an unauthorized derivative of Unix.

4) Finally SCO Group GmbH is prohibited to threaten to sue Linux users unless they bought SCO Linux or Caldera Linux.

The last is great- they can't sue any linux users except their own customers. Hah.

I think we need to start a pool - predict the date Darl McBride does the perp walk after the SEC charges him for a stock scam.
17 posted on 03/01/2004 6:30:58 PM PST by flashbunny (Taxes are not levied for the benefit of the taxed.)
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To: flashbunny
I think we need to start a pool - predict the date Darl McBride does the perp walk after the SEC charges him for a stock scam.

They should have been looking into this instead of wasting all those resources trying to hang Martha for her piddly little sell order(that they ended up losing). Which as it turns out she shouldn't have done since the drug in question was recently approved by the FDA.

Guess Martha's having on of those Homer Simpson "D'oh" moments.

18 posted on 03/01/2004 6:42:10 PM PST by AFreeBird (your mileage may vary)
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To: justlurking
I'm really curious about what happened.

Me too.

You don't think the German court judgement had anything to do with it? Or is B2K starting to feel he's fighting a losing battle?

I hear Longhorn is being delayed to 06 or possibly 08. Given Linux's development cycle; That's going to give Linux some room to grow.

19 posted on 03/01/2004 6:45:23 PM PST by AFreeBird (your mileage may vary)
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To: Pearls Before Swine
...and the lucky user is....

The IRS?

20 posted on 03/01/2004 7:09:19 PM PST by Publius6961 (40% of Californians are as dumb as a sack of rocks.)
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