In our earlier post about open-source software, we made reference to the SCO Litigation, a sprawling nest of lawsuits entangling SCO, IBM, Novell, Red Hat, and licensees of the Unix software system such as DaimlerChrysler. 

The central issue was SCO’s contention that IBM had, without SCO’s authorization, contributed proprietary Unix code to the open-source Linux system.  If Unix was owned by SCO and the code was contributed without SCO’s consent, then this allegation threw doubt on the legal status of Linux and in turn the entire open-source service industry that has grown up around Linux.

Last Friday, a US court ruled that the copyright in the Unix system belongs to Novell, not SCO.  This deflates SCO’s central claims for relief for copyright violations and breach of contract.  The litigation has taken on a life of its own, so I’d be surprised if Friday’s ruling wasn’t appealed.  But it does provide some measure of relief for proponents of open-source.

Calgary – 11:50 MST