Reply #142: Of course, SCO has a different take on the matter [View All]

[0rganism]

Because Linux used "proprietary" UNIX material, and SCO purchased the right to those materials, they've actually launched lawsuits against various other Linuxes and UNIXes for violating copyright.

e.g.,

"SCO Group, inheritor of the intellectual property for the Unix operating system, has sued IBM for more than $1 billion, alleging Big Blue misappropriated SCO's Unix technology and built it into Linux.

"The suit, filed Thursday afternoon in the 3rd District Court of Salt Lake County in Utah, alleges misappropriation of trade secrets, unfair competition, breach of contract and tortious interference with SCO's business, the Lindon, Utah-based company said. SCO also sent a letter Thursday demanding that if IBM doesn't meet various demands, SCO will revoke IBM's license to ship its version of Unix, called AIX, in 100 days...

"AT&T sold the Unix intellectual property to Novell Networks, which in turn sold it to the Santa Cruz Operation. Caldera International, a seller of Linux, then acquired from SCO the Unix rights and two SCO products, OpenServer and UnixWare. Then last year, Caldera changed its name to SCO Group to reflect the fact that most of its revenue came from its SCO business and not from the Linux products."

http://news.com.com/2100-1016-991464.html?tag=nl

The UNIX family tree is a complex and incestuous one. It's no big surprise that some shotgun marriages and corporate cannibalism would occur.