[P1] OT: Unix code lawsuits

[Joost van de Griek]

On 2003-06-19 22:41, Chris Beaumont wrote:

> Now, it appears, they are trying to extort money from the Linux
> community trying to claim that Linux has some of that code in it, so
> that it is a 'derivative work' from Unix and that companies that use
> Linux need to pay them.. This is kind of ridiculous for many reasons,
> not the least of which is that this company themselves used to have a
> linux distro of its own..and sell support for it.. (you cant 'sell'
> linux, its free, and so all code in it is released under the GPL and
> free to download freely..)

Whether the (allegedly) stolen material is distributed free or not doesn't
matter.

> It wont fly.. their case is basically a nuisance case.. I'm sure that
> eventually they will be thrown out of court.. Linux has been around
> since the early 90s..

Irrelevant. If, since then, copyrighted UNIX code has been added to the code
base, anyone using a Linux kernel that contains this code is violating the
UNIX copyright.

> Another strike against them.. Linux's strength is that it is developed
> by a huge community of people, for free.. so suing that community is
> basically futile.. because nobody 'sells' it.. it is given away.. at
> least the core part of it..

Again, this is irrelevant.

> SCO is a company that used to make a unix variant for 386 PCs (yes, really
> that long ago..)

Longer. They used to be part of Microsoft, and made Xenix, MS' UNIX variant
that ran even on 80286's.

> They still exist, but mostly just to pursue
> this vendetta, as far as I can tell, but after this nobody will
> probably buy many of their products, IMO.. Its a blunder of immense
> proportions morally, IMO, especially after they seemingly released the
> code on their site..for free...

Did they really? If so, their case is futile. But simply having the code out
there doesn't imply that it is henceforth in the public domain.

,xtG
.tsooJ
-- 
If a mute swears, does his mother wash his hands with soap?
-- 
Joost van de Griek
<http://www.jvdg.net/>