Open Source Development Labs, one of the main groups promoting the business use of open-source software, published a position paper on Tuesday to address concerns among its members and users of the Linux operating system about SCO's legal campaign. Besides its lawsuits against Novell and IBM, prominent backers of Linux, SCO has threatened to target enterprises using the software.
The research, posted on ODSL's Web site, forecasts that Linux advocates will continue to use the operating system while SCO wages its legal battle against Novell, a maker of server software. Written by Eben Moglen, a Columbia University professor specialising in antitrust issues and chief legal counsel for the Free Software Foundation, the paper is intended to help Linux users navigate the complicated legal waters surrounding the open-source software.
In January, SCO sued Novell, charging that Novell falsely claimed control of the Unix operating system, on which Linux is based. The suit, filed in Utah's Third District Court in Salt Lake City, accuses Novell of slander and seeks an order requiring the company to sign over all Unix-related copyrights to SCO and withdraw any statements claiming ownership of Unix.
SCO, which maintains ownership to a number of Unix copyrights, also is embroiled in a $5bn suit against IBM that contends the computing giant illegally created derivative works based on SCO-controlled code. It also argues that IBM encouraged Novell to make copyright claims against SCO as part of a campaign to undermine SCO's position.
In his manuscript, Moglen asserts that by suing Novell, SCO throws its own claim to Unix copyrights into question. He says that judges would be unlikely to hold Linux users accountable for copyright infringement, based on confusion surrounding the ongoing claims made by the two companies, and said people would probably wait for a final decision as to who owns the copyrights before buying licences from either firm.
SCO has begun offering licences to businesses to allow them to use Linux without threat of legal action.
The document further argues that even when the legal disputes have been resolved, end users will retain rights to use the Linux code in question, without purchasing a licence from SCO or Novell. Moglen bases this argument on the fact that both SCO and Novell have distributed Linux code under the General Public License (GPL), thereby granting licensees the ability to use, modify, copy and distribute Linux code freely, without having to purchase additional software licences.
OSDL executives highlighted their support of Moglen's conclusions and encouraged Linux users to ignore SCO's claims.
"We see Linux deployments continuing around the world and many prudent customers are choosing to ignore SCO's legal threats until the courts rule, particularly given SCO's admitted uncertainty about its own rights," Stuart Cohen, chief executive of OSDL, said in a statement.
