Tuesday, March 30, 2010

SCO v. Novell

Well, the next round in this fight is over: see this article on Groklaw. Novell owns the copyrights, according to the jury, which effectively moots SCO's slander of title claim. There are still some issues for Judge Stewart to decide, and there is some concern that he may assign the copyrights to SCO under specific performance. We'll see how that works out. And, of course, we will likely see SCO appeal this judgment, just as it did the previous decision under Judge Kimball. This case is at seven years and counting. . . .

The bankruptcy trustee, Mr. Cahn, has expressed his disappointment at the decision, but has said that he will continue the fight against IBM. Given that almost the only thing left in that case are the IBM counterclaims, it is hard to see how that one can turn out well.

And there is the Novell appeal to the US Supreme Court, asking the High Court to look at the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals decision. That is a narrow issue, dealing with how copyrights transfer. The decision of the 10th Circuit is out of step with other circuits, where more specificity in the written document of transfer is required. But as of now, we don't yet know if the High Court will take this up or not. It appears eligible, because of the split opinions of the circuits. But mere eligibility is not enough.

One more story in the Linux saga. The next installment will be interesting!