Last week, a judge ruled that Novell, not SCO, owns the rights to Unix code and that SCO can't sue IBM for violating rights it doesn't own, signaling that the endless, US$5 billion legal battle over Linux may soon be at an end.
That's not how SCO sees it, naturally. In an attempt to make batteries out of battery acid, the company is spinning the ruling in a positive light:
The court clearly determined that SCO owns the copyrights to the technology developed or derived by SCO after Novell transferred the assets to SCO in 1995.....What's more, the court did not dismiss our claims against Novell regarding the non compete provisions of the 1995 Technology License Agreement relating to Novell's distribution of Linux to the extent implicated by the technology developed by SCO after 1995.
(Also: The judge did not impound their cars or subject CEO Darl McBride to a strip search, so they got that going for them.)
As for the company itself, SCO ain't dead yet, but it's on a respirator, and the Penguinistas are jumping up and down on the air hose. At press time SCO stock was trading at 44 cents per share, or slightly more than the stock spam in my inbox. Over the past year SCO stock had traded as high as US$2.45, or the price of a Starbucks grande decaf latte (hold the foam).
SCO fans had better hope the company's move into the mobile space pays off, because it sure looks like the legal strategy won't.
The reaction from SCO's longtime foes? See ya, wouldn't want to be ya.