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Red Hat Cornering SCO in Delaware 356

Posted by CowboyNeal from the inching-forward dept.
LordNite writes "There is a great article over at Groklaw on the latest motion in the RedHat's Delaware suit. RedHat has filed for the start of discovery. Looking at the list of documents RH is requesting it looks like SCO will finally have to come clean. Naturally SCO is trying to stall. It looks like the beginning of the end of this whole mess." The faster this can get into court and be over, the better.
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Red Hat Cornering SCO in Delaware More

Red Hat Cornering SCO in Delaware

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  • Linux Lottery? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by taviso ( 566920 ) * on Friday October 10, 2003 @08:06AM (#7181663) Homepage
    45. All documents concerning a Linux Lottery or the phrase the "Linux Lottery'.

    Thats a new one on me, anyone have any clue where this phrase comes from or what it means..why are RH interested in it?

    • Re:Linux Lottery? (Score:5, Informative)

      by taviso ( 566920 ) * on Friday October 10, 2003 @08:11AM (#7181694) Homepage
      Ahh, Found the answer in a court transcript, here [iwethey.org].

      In sum, SCO's campaign is designed both to slow the growth of
      LINUX, and to reverse its failing fortunes by convincing LINUX users
      that they need to pay SCO a license fee to use the lower-cost LINUX
      operating system. As SCO's own representatives have proclaimed, if SCO
      is successful at this effort, it can add "billions" of dollars in
      undeserved revenues to its declining bottom line. Additionally, SCO's
      campaign is designed to further what, upon information and belief, has
      been referred to as the "LINUX Lottery" -- the ability to reap personal
      profit by carefully timed purchases of SCO stock.
    • wooo... SCO's toast... the judge is certain to frown on stuff like "Linux Lottery"

  • SCO does'nt seem to be in a hurry (Score:4, Insightful)

    by gokulpod ( 558749 ) <gpoduval@@@hotmail...com> on Friday October 10, 2003 @08:08AM (#7181674) Homepage
    The article mentions that SCO is trying to stall as much as possible. Probably the executives at Santa Clara have'nt sold off all their shares yet. Once that is done, you can be sure to see the cases flying off the shelves.

    • SCO execs cash in on suit spotlight (Score:5, Informative)

      by Solokron ( 198043 ) on Friday October 10, 2003 @08:22AM (#7181764) Homepage
      You got that right.

      http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104_2-5057033.html [com.com]

    • Re:SCO does'nt seem to be in a hurry (Score:4, Insightful)

      by mst76 ( 629405 ) on Friday October 10, 2003 @08:33AM (#7181833)
      The article mentions that SCO is trying to stall as much as possible. Probably the executives at Santa Clara have'nt sold off all their shares yet. Once that is done, you can be sure to see the cases flying off the shelves.
      Also, McBride will get a large payoff if he manages to get 4 consecutive profitable quarters. He only has 2 more to go.

    • Santa Clara? I can see someone hasn't been keeping up with the soap opera very well.

      TSG (The SCO Group) is based in Utah. The real SCO was the Santa Cruz Organisation, but they sold the name, along with their crusty ancient Unix branch, to Caldera Linux, which then changed their name to TSG and took to referring to themselves as SCO. These are the morons we're talking about. The Santa Cruz Organisation then renamed themselves Tarantella and concentrated on the remaining parts of their business - the ones

    • Actually, I don't think SCO stock is going to collapse immediately. Many of the people who bought SCO stock in the past few month were shorting it. The idea is somebody promises you the right to sell a stock at a the current price. If the price falls, you short it and pocket the difference.

      But if the stock is saturated with shorts because everybody thinks it will go down, then poeple won't sell because they are waiting for the price to go down.

      Then all it takes is one big sell, like one of the execs

  • Red Hat (Score:3, Insightful)

    by micaiah ( 593598 ) on Friday October 10, 2003 @08:08AM (#7181676)
    Sure, Red Hat has a vested interest in defending Linux, however, there are more companies like Suse, who could take up the fight, but aren't. Kudos to Red Hat. This is one reason why I still buy and support Red Hat.

    • Re:Red Hat (Score:3, Informative)

      by Xanthian ( 714965 )
      Suse has already openly supported RH's direction [slashdot.org]. I'm sure one of the reasons they're not more active in the fight is that SCO has already been stopped in Germany.

    • Re:Red Hat (Score:4, Insightful)

      by nutshell42 ( 557890 ) on Friday October 10, 2003 @08:21AM (#7181760) Journal
      SuSE's a European company and afaik in most countries here there are injunctions in effect preventing SCO from FUD-spamming like they do in the US.

      Why should SuSE do the work for Red Hat when Red Hat's twice as big and much more dependant on the American market (also afaik =)

      jm2

      • Re:Red Hat (Score:4, Informative)

        by micaiah ( 593598 ) on Friday October 10, 2003 @08:26AM (#7181784)
        "Why should SuSE do the work for Red Hat when Red Hat's twice as big and much more dependant on the American market (also afaik =)" Because Suse would be defending Linux as a whole e.g. the kernel, which is under attack. It has nothing to do with Red Hat's distro.

        • Because Suse would be defending Linux as a whole e.g. the kernel, which is under attack. It has nothing to do with Red Hat's distro.

          Amen. If SCO would somehow be able to pull this off in the States, it certainly wouldn't be a ringing endorsement of Linux, regardless of what the rest of the world thinks of the American legal system. And sure, Suse is a German company, but don't think you think their business plan depends heavily on purchases made in the United States?

          • Re:Red Hat (Score:3, Insightful)

            by MKalus ( 72765 )

            And sure, Suse is a German company, but don't think you think their business plan depends heavily on purchases made in the United States?

            I am replying here to what I think you were asking:

            No, I don't think SuSE relies heavily on the US market, they do a lot better in Europe then they do in the US (and most likely will for some time), sure they have deals with IBM and such, but I have a hard time finding SuSE in North America, that's a nieche market for them.

            In the States right now you have RedHat and

        • But didn't a German court slap SCO with a $20,000 fine (peanuts to those guys, granted) and tell them to STFU until they PROVED something in court? SuSE hasn't been challenged much I don't think.

          Either way, the timing was perfect (for Europe) what with the talk about Software Patent law... We're still screwed here, but good for them...

    • Re:Red Hat (Score:5, Informative)

      by MadMoses ( 151207 ) on Friday October 10, 2003 @08:33AM (#7181829) Homepage
      SUSE has already successfully filed a suit against SCO Germany a long time ago, with the result that SCO Germany is not allowed to say that Linux includes code that infringes on SCO's copyrights.

      Here's Suse's press release [www.suse.de] (german).

      • Re:Red Hat (Score:4, Interesting)

        by Zocalo ( 252965 ) on Friday October 10, 2003 @09:56AM (#7182407) Homepage
        SUSE has already successfully filed a suit against SCO Germany a long time ago

        Indeed, and unlike Red Hat, SUSE didn't wait for a lawsuit to arrive before sucessfully going to court for their injunction. I guess that lends further credence to the maxim that the best defense is a good offense, so let's hope that the strategy pays off for the ACCC down in Oz too. ;) Still, every little bit helps with bleeding them dry. The more court cases SCO has to deal with the less chance that Darl will get his Golden Parachute for four profitable quarters in succession.

        • Re:Red Hat (Score:3, Informative)

          by Anonym0us Cow Herd ( 231084 )
          and unlike Red Hat, SUSE didn't wait for a lawsuit to arrive before sucessfully going to court for their injunction.

          Please clarify what you are saying? What lawsuit did Red Hat wait for to arrive before RH sued? RH is the plaintif in their suit.

          Not relevant to my question above, but FYI, I buy and run SuSE, and don't particularly care for RH's distro -- in fact, I almost gave up on Linux after installing RH 5.2 having been a longtime Mac user, no KDE, etc. After trying SuSE 5.x in 1999 I was immedi

    • Re:Red Hat (Score:3, Funny)

      by Czernobog ( 588687 )
      Because SuSE can depend on the German law system to stop SCO's bogus claims, whereas RedHat have to play the nonsensical, imbecillic system you Yanks got.

      • German Legal System (Score:3, Insightful)

        by steve_l ( 109732 )
        Is this the same legal system that let the Asterix cartoon get an injunction on Mobilix. And something to stop people linking to the .nl site that showed people how to sabotage railway lines?

        All legal systems have flaws, they are just in different places :(
    • Suse did take up the fight - in their area, germany. SCO has been told to shut up there, that their claims have no basis and they cannot harrass Suse/Linux customers.
  • The GrokLaw site has been slashdotted and is cooling off. Please check again in a few minutes or try the "old" site at Radio or the Google cache.

    Our apologies for this interruption of service, the Webmaster.

  • OT: Stowell unix licenses are revokable! (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    stowell - Unix licenses are revokable [theregister.co.uk] And this from a company insisting that the GPL is invalid whilst distributing GPL licensed software. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm
    • Note in the quote of the license by nice SCO people it says

      If LICENSEE fails to fulfill one or more of its obligations under this Agreement, AT&T-IS (AT&T Information Systems) may, upon its election and in addition to any other rememdies that it may have, at any time terminate all the rights granted by it hereunder by not less than two(2) months' written notice to LICENSEE specifying any such breach, unless within the period of such notice all breaches specified therein shall have been remedied; up
      • Ah, beat me to that bold print! Yes I think there's more then enough proof of SCO's intent to do harm rather than honor the original license.

        That one line is the reason why IBM and SGI and others seem unconcerned. SGI and IBM have offered to remedy the situation - and it truly can be said that SGI has done everything possible to do so (with out SCO's help of course), and that's the kicker. SCO has yet to be specific about ANY of their charges. What this request in Deleware means is that for once, they will

        • Actually they have several lines of defense.

          First, no actual breach has been demonstrated, and TSG seems to be working overtime to avoid demonstrating any breach. IBM has been saying from day 1 "show us the breach" but TSG won't.

          Second, in the case of the SGI code in particular, even if it was a breach (which it clearly wasn't,) even the appearance of a breach was remedied as soon as it came to light. No thanks to TSG, btw.

          Finally, there are many amendments to that original contract signed later which

  • Alright! Keep the bad press on SCO coming! The more bad news the faster their stock price drops and the faster my short sale makes money. Buy on rumor, sell on news is the old saying and there has been a lot more rumor than news lately. Outside of /. that is...
    • Hate to break it to you, but more often than not scox goes up on bad news. Remember SCOForum, when scox showed the code, and it was debunked within an hour? Scox share price went up 50%, to about $15/share, in the next trhee sessions. Then the share price went up another 50% to about $20/share in the two weeks or so.
      • Hate to break it to you, but more often than not scox goes up on bad news. Remember SCOForum, when scox showed the code, and it was debunked within an hour? Scox share price went up 50%, to about $15/share, in the next trhee sessions. Then the share price went up another 50% to about $20/share in the two weeks or so.

        And on September 26 when IBM announced their countersuit SCOX dropped [yahoo.com] from around $17 to $13.8 a few days later. The difference? The debunking of the code didn't show up on Reuters [reuters.com] which in
    • Yeah right!! Those bloody idiots on wallstreet are still buying [yahoo.com] those stocks. (SCO up .011 % now).
  • As this thing unravels, there's really only one question left unanswered:

    Does anyone know of a country with no extradition treaties? Chris wants to go to the South Pacific, but as a speaker of Asian languages, I was more thinking....

    • You think if Red Hat paid Bush enough that you'd be safe anywhere?

      You'd be aligned with Cuba, Iran and Libya.

    • Another good question is, "Are you going to a white collar resort prison?"

  • Can the judge tell if SCO is trying to stall? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by tehanu ( 682528 ) on Friday October 10, 2003 @08:18AM (#7181739)
    I am not a lawyer so maybe some people with more experience can tell me - is it usually obvious to a judge (it may be obvious to us in the case of SCO, but that's an entirely different matter) if someone is trying to stall for time, how do judges usually look upon this sort of behaviour (do they shrug their shoulders or get pissed off?) and if they do get annoyed what can they do to the stalling party?

    • Re:Can the judge tell if SCO is trying to stall? (Score:5, Informative)

      by Entrope ( 68843 ) on Friday October 10, 2003 @08:43AM (#7181877) Homepage
      The court and representation for each side talk and negotiate deadlines for particular stages of the trial. I imagine that there are common standards for each stage. The judge and Red Hat have interests in seeing Red Hat's case executed in a timely manner, so it would be somewhat difficult for SCO to extend the deadlines greatly.

      It is possible to file motions or amended actions later to delay or reset the clock. If the judge believes they have merit, it will go through[1]. If a party to a lawsuit submits many such motions and they are largely frivolous or unwarranted, it may count as vexatious litigation. If a judge considers something vexatious litigation, he or she will generally sanction the offending party. Sanctions can many forms[2].

      IANAL, etc.

      [1]- For example, SCO recently got a delay in its trial versus IBM so that it could perform due diligence and research in their counter-defense.
      [2]- Monetary fines are common, but others are possible. The US prosecutors in the Zacarias Moussaoui were barred from seeking the death penalty or introducing broad classes of evidence when the government refused to comply with a court order to give him direct access to certain terrorist suspect-detainees.

  • Could this massively implode on SCO? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by swb ( 14022 ) on Friday October 10, 2003 @08:26AM (#7181787)
    Is there a chance that this could massively implode on SCO?

    I'd wager there must have been some "UNIX" code in Linux at one time, albeit not intentionally and perhaps only small chunks for SCO to have made any claim at all.

    But let's presume that RH's discovery finds the code was relatively small, inserted accidentally or under false pretenses, and not part of the current development of Linux.

    Could SCO then be shown to be grossly misrepresenting their claims and mooting any licensing claims they made and perhaps open SCO's executives to claims of fraud, stock maniplation, or at least highly vulnerable to civil action from companies who could claim their misrepresentation had a chilling effect on their business?

    If someone can get the man behind the curtain exposed, this could all come crashing down around the SCO guys..
    • I suppose, in their view, they may not mind if it did. For a relatively small investment they have pumped up SCO stock, and have a (admittedly small) chance of aquiring the IP rights to a system, Linux, that could be worth $Millions/Billions in licences. Even if that was only a small % chance, they are calculating its worth a gamble for such a big prize..

      The worse that could happen is that they fold, maybe less of a loss to these guys than you think..

      • Re:Could this massively implode on SCO? (Score:4, Interesting)

        by badasscat ( 563442 ) <basscadet75@NOspAm.yahoo.com> on Friday October 10, 2003 @09:03AM (#7181992)
        The worse that could happen is that they fold, maybe less of a loss to these guys than you think..

        No, the "worst" that can happen is they get busted for running a pump and dump [sec.gov] scheme by the SEC. Not to mention corporate fraud, insider trading and god knows what else; I'm sure there are a variety of charges that could be leveled if it turns out they were intentionally misleading investors for personal gain. This is serious stuff; this is not just slap on the wrist territory. We're talking some real prison time here.

        If these allegations by SCO do all turn out to be completely false (as is likely), and it does turn out that SCO knew it (50/50 - I think it's just as likely they're just totally clueless), then the SEC will have to get involved in order to send a message to the rest of the corporate world that this sort of thing cannot be tolerated. If SCO execs actually succeed in taking a failing company and turning it into a personal gain for them through fraud, there will be no end to these sorts of actions by other executives at other failing companies in the future.
        • then the SEC will have to get involved in order to send a message to the rest of the corporate world that this sort of thing cannot be tolerated.

          What planet are you from, and what color is the sky there? All Darl and company need to do is make sure their contributions to the major political parties are up to date.

          Is Ken Lay in jail yet? How about Bernie Ebbers?

          • Re:Could this massively implode on SCO? (Score:4, Insightful)

            by swb ( 14022 ) on Friday October 10, 2003 @09:59AM (#7182433)
            The difference being that Ken Lay and his company are from Texas, where the current President is from and who was Governor. Lay and Enron were big contributers to the GOP and Bush for a long time, and likely circulated in the same social circle as the Bush family (oil/energy, Texas, wealthy, politics, the overlap is massive).

            The Enron prosecution isn't done and Lay isn't out of the woods yet. There was just recently a news blurb about Lay refusing to hand over documents in his possession, citing the 5th Ammendment.

            Darl is probably the only "name" exec at SCO and is a "name" only for creating this fiasco. While probably "connected" politically in the same way all wealthy CEO types are, I highly doubt he has or can even buy the juice that Lay had with the GOP pre-Enron. Not from the same state or industry as many Bush insiders, nor does he have the non-business political standing.

            Furthermore, he's created enemies at bigger businesses like IBM that have heavier hitters than him, with longer, deeper political connections and from bigger states, mitigating any potential political advantage he *might* have had.

            And remember, Sam Waksal from Imclone is *already* in the can, Martha Stewart faces a fraud trial that could land her in the can, too, and the guy from Tyco I believe will likely enjoy the a nice long membership at the Orange Jumpsuit Country Club.

            Overall, I think McBride is *just* the kind of sacrificial lamb that the Justice department and SEC would like to see turning on a spit over an open fire. Not politically connected enough to be a threat to them and reaping major political benefits for the overly-pro-corporate Bush administration when he gets a public hanging.

            • You miss an important point: nobody but us geeks really cares about SCO and lunix. No, really, it's true. All our sound and fury signifies nothing, and the SEC will get no kudos for busting SCO, because nobody who matters cares.

              Sorry to interrupt. Normal self aggrandising and cognitive dissonance may now commence.

            • Every day that goes by is another day that Lay gets closer to getting off scot-free. The longer the investigation, the greater the cost, and the greater the incentive to just end it, because "nobody cares anymore."

              Actually, I think McBride is too small a fish for the SEC to get their panties in a knot over. Couple that with the fact that he's fighting those "Linux hippies" that the *IAA are so incensed with, and I bet nothing happens under the current administration.

              • Actually, I think McBride is too small a fish for the SEC to get their panties in a knot over. Couple that with the fact that he's fighting those "Linux hippies" that the *IAA are so incensed with,

                I'm not sure why people here seem to think the SEC and states' attorneys general (like good old Eliot Spitzer here in NY) will not get involved here. SCO is not fighting "Linux hippies", SCO is fighting IBM, one of the largest companies in the world, one of the Dow 30, #9 on the Fortune 500. You think any sel
        • o, the "worst" that can happen is they get busted for running a pump and dump scheme by the SEC. Not to mention corporate fraud, insider trading and god knows what else; I'm sure there are a variety of charges that could be leveled if it turns out they were intentionally misleading investors for personal gain. This is serious stuff; this is not just slap on the wrist territory. We're talking some real prison time here.

          Add to that what everybody seems to forgetting here. This is a Canopy manouver!
          And IBM
    • I'd wager there must have been some "UNIX" code in Linux at one time, albeit not intentionally and perhaps only small chunks for SCO to have made any claim at all.

      You could be right, but I personally think their entire case is built on fantasy. They may have assumed they would find something to justify the case as it went forward. One reason they are stalling is that they are desperately trying to find something, anything to prevent the case just being declared frivolous.

    • Yes, they could be sued. The answer will be immeadiat bankruptcy. Upon doing that they will declare default on a 1 million dollar loan to canopy group. At that point all of SCO's IP and legal assets transfer to the canopy group. Who wants to bet that caldera is waiting in in the wings for this.
      As to Darl himself, well, at this point an SEC/FTC investigation should have already started. But it has not. If darl has "pierced the corporate veil", then criminal charges could be filed against him personally. Bu
  • When SCO get trashed in court and The Darly Gang get sent to jail for a nine-month reaming, Linux is going to hit the headlines like never before:

    - LINUX WINS

    - LINUX BEATS OFF THE INCUMBENTS

    - LINUX... THE NEXT TERMINATOR?

    I predict that the small slowdown in Linux installations over the last months will reverse into an explosion when this happens.

    Overall, quite a weak showing from the Darly Gang and their friends the Redmond Boys. One would really have expected a little better.
    • If SCO is lucky, the judge will simply look over the USL v BSD history and declare the SysV codebase public-domain, making SCO's claims legally moot. If they're unlucky, the SEC and a swarm of shareholder lawsuits will be waiting for them outside the Delaware courtroom, leading to a group perp-walk, some cozy Federal accomodations and a executive's name change to "Darlene, Mac's bride".
    • - LINUX... THE NEXT TERMINATOR?


      -Linux...BEATS GRAY DAVIS IN RECALL ELECTION
      err....wait....
      We *have* elected dead senators [and live movie stars] in this country....
    • ...Linux is going to hit the headlines like never before... ...I predict that the small slowdown in Linux installations over the last months will reverse into an explosion when this happens...

      This is actually a really good point. Linux is already hitting the headlines like never before. With all this SCO noise, I don't think there is anyone left that hasn't heard of Linux! There's no such thing as bad press!

      I have to agree, once this is over there will be a huge leap forward for Linux.
  • Can someone post it here since Groklaw is down for the count.

    Yea, you must be new here would probably be moderated as "Funny" but I beat you to it.

  • I'm certainly looking forward to this whole mess being over so Linux can continue on the road to "World Domination" (remember that? :-) But what I'm really looking forward to is the trials afterward when Darl and Co. will go before a grand jury to be indicted on federal charges leveled by the SEC for commision of fraud in an effort to artificially inflate stock prices. But then again, that's just me.

    ...or is it?

  • Groklaw Article (Score:5, Informative)

    by Mostly a lurker ( 634878 ) on Friday October 10, 2003 @09:18AM (#7182101)
    I found a backdoor to this (sorry about the formatting):

    SCO Files 2nd Motion Asking the Red Hat Judge for a Delay on Discovery

    Thursday, October 09 2003 @ 04:25 AM EDT

    There has been quite a lot of activity in the Red Hat case.

    SCO filed a Motion to Dismiss the action in its entirety, as you know, and Red Hat filed its answering brief. But since we last reported on this case, Red Hat initiated discovery. They asked SCO for documents and for answers to some pointed questions. IBM is forcing SCO into a corner in Utah, and Red Hat is forcefully and aggressively trying to do the same in Delaware. You'll see, I think, that we haven't been wasting our time telling the world the details of this story. The big picture is that Red Hat is telling SCO to prove their allegations with specificity. They also want all their source code, and I'm sure you can figure out what they want to do with it, when I tell you that they asked for the complete Linux Kernel Personality source code, among the other products for which they have requested source code.

    They also want to hear some details about the relationship between Canopy and SCO, including any stock or intellectual property transfers. They want SCO to "identify by title, version, module(s) and line(s)" what they think is misappropriated in any way or in violation of any of its rights. They ask for the details of Microsoft and Sun's licensing arrangement with SCO. They want to know who those 1500 companies were that got the letter, and what happened next. They want to know exactly what SCO has filed a copyright on. They want all the details of SCOsource, including all the folks who have seen the code SCO has been showing under the NDA and what they saw, and any other contact with any Linux users about supposed liability. They want to know how they compared the UNIX and Linux code to determine infringement. They want to know if they've done any comparisons of the two and what the results were. They want to know all the stock or industry analysts SCO has met with or talked to and what was said. In short, it's like the kind of fantasy a guy might have about a bully getting his at last, because they asked them everything we wanted somebody to finally ask SCO and make them answer.

    SCO responded to Red Hat's discovery requests by filing a new motion, and it has told the judge, in a Motion to Stay Discovery Pending Resolution of Motion to Dismiss, it would like a delay until after the first motion, the Motion to Dismiss, is ruled on. They surely don't seem in any hurry to get this matter resolved. They argue that because they are simultaneously providing discovery to IBM (of course IBM says they aren't seeing anything, as I recall), they can't possibly do both, and anyway, if they win their motion, it'd be moot. In short, they would very much like not to have to do this, presumably so that if they win the Motion to Dismiss they can continue to refuse to give any particulars about their case. If the judge doesn't grant their Motion to Dismiss, they'd like the judge to give them 30 days to provide all the discovery items.

    Both of Red Hat's discovery documents are attached to this SCO Motion to Stay Discovery, and they begin with definitions, like what is "intellectual property" within the context of the document, and instructions, like how to identify the writers of documents, etc.. The first document begins on page 7 of the pdf, but we find out what Red Hat is asking for on page 12, where the list begins.

    Red Hat in its "First Request for the Production of Documents and Things" asks SCO to produce the following documents:

    1. All documents concerning the subject matter of the Complaint.
    2. All documents concerning any customer, or potential customer, of Red Hat.
    3. All communications between SCO and Red Hat or any employee of Red Hat.
    4. All communications between SCO and any user or potential user of a Linux product, including Red Hat LINUX product, concerning any rights to Linux, or UNIX th

  • Legal Reason for Delay (Score:2, Informative)

    by judmarc ( 649183 )
    SCO has asked the judge to rule on their Motion to Dismiss first, which is fair, and is almost certainly what will happen. The Motion to Dismiss says that even if everything Red Hat says is true, it still doesn't amount to an infringement of Red Hat's legal rights. So the judge has to rule on whether Red Hat's case will amount to anything *even if they prove everything they say* before giving Red Hat a chance to get that proof through discovery.
  • Darl McBride learned a while back that litigation can produce money faster than real work. But that doesn't work if the opponent has more resources (IBM) or believes it is right (Red Hat).

    What we've been seeing is McBride's worst nightmare: SCO files suit & the opponent files a countersuit. The opponent doesn't want to settle; the opponent wants to go to court a.s.a.p. Things are not going according to plan.

    McBride still might be able to make some money out of this by printing SCO stock in rolls on

  • Is when Darl and the other SCO execs will be realising that the game is up. That gnawing sound you can hear is them hollowing out the shell of SCO from the inside.

    When a judge in either the IBM or Red Hat suits finally says "Enough stalling, provide the source or be in contempt", they'll simply file for chapter 7 (or straight to 11), throw up their arms and say "Gosh, we'd like to prove our case, but we seem to have inexplicably spent all of our money on buying beach front property which we then accident

  • It strikes me that large companies aren't sweating the Unix licensing issue enough. SCO seems to have full legal right to terminate IBM & SGI's Unix licenses, and they have done so.

    What could happen?

  • You Got to Know... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Esion Modnar ( 632431 ) on Friday October 10, 2003 @11:01AM (#7183022)
    ...when to hold them, know when to fold them, know when to walk away, know when to run. (from Kenny Rogers, The Gambler)

    OK, SCO. Enough talk. Let's see your cards.

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