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07.13.10 SCO's Battle Against Linux Continues  By Bryan YoungFor eight years, the SCO group, which produces several versions of the Unix Operating System, has been on the legal warpath against Linux. It maintains that certain Linux distributors copied portions of Unix for use in their operating systems. As of yet, the courts have all but thrown out these claims, as SCO has yet to provide sufficient evidence that copyrights were infringed. The evidence that has been used is now available to public eyes. Lawyer Kevin McBride, the brother of SCO's former CEO Darl McBride, commented on a post on his website with a few code examples of the supposed copyright infringement. These examples show a very weak case on the part of SCO in its claims of wrong-doing. The lines that are indicated as copies are not identical, and are in the majority of cases (I did not take the time to compare every case) are of basic functionality that could very easily be a simple case of one best implementation. Some of the indicated "copied" lines are borderline embarrassing on the part of SCO, including such things as return statements and blank lines. Luckily, this is very much a non-issue after the SCO vs Novell case where it was determined by the courts that the copyrights to UNIX do not belong to SCO at all, but are actually the property of Novell. Considering that Novell has no interest in a lawsuit against Linux at this time, I would conjecture that there really is not a case to be made. As to the motive behind SCO's legal moves, there are a number of different theories circulating the internet, and the truth may never be known. For now, it seems that Linux is safe from those who would see it destroyed. Especially after seeing the quality of evidence that can be mounted in a copyright trial, I am convinced that there is nothing to be concerned over. About the Author: Bryan is a staff writer for WebProNews |
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