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Judge overturns 2007 Unix copyright decision

Posted by Scott_Ruecker on · 11 comments
Computerworld; By John Fontana 		Mail this story
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A federal appeals court Monday overturned a 2007 decision that Novell owns the Unix code, and the ruling now clears the way for SCO to pursue a $1 billion copyright infringement case against IBM. In a 54-page decision, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals said it was reversing the 2007 summary judgment decision by Judge Dale Kimball of the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah, which found that Novell was the owner of Unix and UnixWare copyrights.

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Comments (11)

jdixon ·
Not as bad as the column indicates. The judge said that the summary judgment wasn't appropriate and that it should have gone to a jury. See Groklaw for the full details.
SamShazaam ·
It is not quite as the headline says. The summary judgement will go to a jury instead..

http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20090824142203182
bigg ·
sjvn's take:

http://blogs.computerworld.com/14597/the_sco_zombie_wins_one

Keep in mind that this has nothing to do with the actual claims that Linux infringes on SCO's IP.
softwarejanitor ·
@SamShazaam Thanks for the link... Yeah, it could be worse, but the last thing that the world needs is for SCO to get any more delays or wiggle room or 64th chances. They deserve to die a quick Chapter 7 death ASAP.
gus3 ·
And they may yet, once the Chap. 11 trustee starts looking at the books.

PJ isn't one to gloat, and discourages it on Groklaw, but for myself, I hope Darl & Company are never again in charge of anything but restroom breaks for an assembly line.
tuxchick ·
This is weird. There was an earlier ruling that SCO does owe Novell for all those Unix licenses that they sold as an agent of Novell, with SCO keeping only a 5% commission. So how is ownership still an unresolved question?
Sander_Marechal ·
Tuxchick: After SCO was Novell's agent, Novell sold the Unix business to SCO. The question is whether the copyrights transferred with that as well. Summary judgment said they did not transfer. Now the court says that's up to a jury.
tuxchick ·
Thanks Sander. Please someone put a stake through SCO's heart.
caitlyn ·
That doesn't kill zombies. I'd like to believe SCO are walking dead.
azerthoth ·
Any good horror movie buff knows how to kill zombies, you disconnect the head from the shoulders, or at the least put a bullet just north of the nose. In the case of the scombie a trustee effectively removes the head from the shoulders, and who knows he might recommend the bullet too.

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