SCO's case against Novell for slander of title is going to trial on March 8.
That means a Utah jury will decide who the heck owns Unix.
Novell tried like the dickens but failed to get the date pushed back to next summer during a hearing Tuesday with Judge Ted Stewart, who'll be presiding.
If Judge Stewart didn't already know how jury-shy Novell is, he does now.
Novell's outside counsel Michael Jacobs first tried pleading that the trial would take three weeks not two as SCO maintained. The first open date for a two-week trial was March 8. The first open date accommodating a three-week trial was in July and Jacobs was reportedly all over that idea like a June bug on a ripe fig.
When that didn't work he tried pleading that there was an awful of work to be done and briefs to be filed beforehand and he needed time. Judge Stewart reportedly asked him what briefs he had in mind exactly since the case was fully briefed and on the brink of going to trial in August of 2007.
That was right before Judge Stewart's predecessor Judge Dale Kimball took the decision away from a jury with his now famous summary judgment that Novell owns Unix, the decision that the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned sending the case back to Utah to be heard.
Perhaps Judge Stewart was sending Jacobs a code message not to bother filing any motions to stay.
Jacobs' motion to get SCO's case against Novell combined with SCO's case against IBM - a thought that used to appall Novell - also failed. Ditto his attempt to get the two cases assigned to one judge - preferably Judge Tena Campbell, who's already drawn the IBM case.
Judge Campbell is getting close to senior status when district court judges can unload half their cases and go to part-time. Judge Stewart has a reputation for getting things done.
In its attempt to get to trial ASAP cash-strapped SCO and its Chapter 11 trustee pushed back against Novell's stay-out-of-court-as-long-as-we-can motion.
Observers are crediting SCO's trustee Ed Cahn, himself a retired district court judge and a relatively neutral party, with helping get the court off the dime. He filed a declaration with Judge Stewart saying the case has merit and should be expedited.