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SCO & Novell in Court

Trying to Figure Out How Much SCO is Supposed to Owe Novell In Royalties for its Attempt to Tax Linux
By Maureen O'Gara
Article Rating:
May 4, 2008 08:15 AM EDT
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 5,836

SCO and Novell have been in court this week trying to figure out how much SCO is supposed to owe Novell in royalties for its attempt to tax Linux.

This is the money that SCO claims it doesn’t owe Novell at all because Novell signed away its source code rights and can only claim royalties on binaries.

The trial, in front of SCO’s least favorite judge, started with Novell taking about $7 million off of its claim because it knew it didn’t have a pray on that account and so they’re now down to talking about less than $20 million.

Novell, yes, Novell, called SCO CEO Darl McBride as a witness and he managed to work at least one letter Novell wrote saying SCO owned everything – including the copyrights the court said it didn’t own – into the conversation. The other letters are on SCO web site.

Published May 4, 2008 – Reads 5,836
Copyright © 2008 SYS-CON Media, Inc. — All Rights Reserved.
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More Stories By Maureen O'Gara

Maureen O'Gara the most read technology reporter for the past 20 years, is the Cloud Computing and Virtualization News Desk editor of SYS-CON Media. She is the publisher of famous "Billygrams" and the editor-in-chief of "Client/Server News" for more than a decade. One of the most respected technology reporters in the business, Maureen can be reached by email at maureen(at)sys-con.com or paperboy(at)g2news.com, and by phone at 516 759-7025. Twitter: @MaureenOGara

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Most Recent Comments
Wayne 05/04/08 01:52:55 AM EDT

Hum a few problems with this. Let's see:

'SCO and Novell have been in court this week trying to figure out how much SCO is supposed to owe Novell in royalties for its attempt to tax Linux.'

You forgot to mention that this is due to SCO suing Novell. The Judge determined that Novell was in the right.

'This is the money that SCO claims it doesn’t owe Novell at all because Novell signed away its source code rights and can only claim royalties on binaries.'

And that the judge has already ruled that to do owe.

'The trial, in front of SCO’s least favorite judge, started with Novell taking about $7 million off of its claim because it knew it didn’t have a pray on that account and so they’re now down to talking about less than $20 million.'

Didn't have a pray? Don't you mean "Didn't have a prayer?" I'd like to suggest another possibility, that Novell may have dropped the amount as they think that this is all SCO would be able to pay.

'Novell, yes, Novell, called SCO CEO Darl McBride as a witness and he managed to work at least one letter Novell wrote saying SCO owned everything – including the copyrights the court said it didn’t own – into the conversation. The other letters are on SCO web site.'

Did you read all of Darl's testimony? I did. Based on what I read, I would not buy a used car from that man. We won't know until the judge issues his ruling, but I think that he will rule in Novell's favor.