Toolkit

Story: The patent nuclear weapon

Posted by: A reader (Wednesday 1 October 2003, 2:58 AM)

SCO's case is not centered around copyright. IBM happens to own the copyright on the code they developed and contributed to Linux. SCO's contention is that the code falls under the definition of 'derivative code' and that IBM violated its contract with SCO by contributing it to Linux. As such, it is a contractual dispute, not a copyright claim.

Your point about software patents is valid in general, but in this case, IBM is using them in defence. SCO is not the little guy you project to be, nor is IBM the big bully. Pay careful attention to SCO's conduct. They are making slanderous claims without giving the OSS community an opportunity to verify the claims and respond to them. SCO is the bully, trying to steal years of hard work from volunteer programmers for their financial gain.

Please note that IBM has granted permission to use the relevant patents to open source community when they contributed code to Linux in the past. Sure IBM is not doing it for charity, but till they actually attack the little guys with their patents, you can't blame IBM.