decoration decoration
Stories

GROKLAW
When you want to know more... 		decoration
For layout only
Home
Archives
Site Map
Search
About Groklaw
Awards
Legal Research
Timelines
ApplevSamsung
ApplevSamsung p.2
ArchiveExplorer
Autozone
Bilski
Cases
Cast: Lawyers
Comes v. MS
Contracts/Documents
Courts
DRM
Gordon v MS
GPL
Grokdoc
HTML How To
IPI v RH
IV v. Google
Legal Docs
Lodsys
MS Litigations
MSvB&N
News Picks
Novell v. MS
Novell-MS Deal
ODF/OOXML
OOXML Appeals
OraclevGoogle
Patents
ProjectMonterey
Psystar
Quote Database
Red Hat v SCO
Salus Book
SCEA v Hotz
SCO Appeals
SCO Bankruptcy
SCO Financials
SCO Overview
SCO v IBM
SCO v Novell
SCO:Soup2Nuts
SCOsource
Sean Daly
Software Patents
Switch to Linux
Transcripts
Unix Books

Gear

Groklaw Gear

Click here to send an email to the editor of this weblog.

You won't find me on Facebook

Donate

Donate Paypal

No Legal Advice

The information on Groklaw is not intended to constitute legal advice. While Mark is a lawyer and he has asked other lawyers and law students to contribute articles, all of these articles are offered to help educate, not to provide specific legal advice. They are not your lawyers.

Here's Groklaw's comments policy.

What's New

STORIES
No new stories

COMMENTS last 48 hrs
No new comments

Sponsors

Hosting:
hosted by ibiblio

On servers donated to ibiblio by AMD.

Webmaster
The Missing Code Turns Up in Blepp's Suitcase in Germany. Say, what?
Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 12:23 PM EDT

Well, no wonder SCO hasn't been able to present the missing million lines of infringing code in discovery. Gregory Blepp, their man in Germany, says he has it in his suitcase over there.

I am positive the court will be thrilled to learn that no extension beyond April 19 will be necessary. Proof of a million to a million and a half of lines of infringing code, he says. Why haven't they put it on the table for everyone to see? American courts move slowly, he says. You don't put all your cards on the table right away.

That's if my computer's German was up to the task. Here is a computer translation into English. But could a German-speaking reader step up to the plate and send me or post a translation of the following, please?

"'Ich habe Beweise hier in dem Koffer', sagt Gregory Blepp, Vizeprädident von SCO und zuständig für das Lizenzgeschäft. Doch bevor der redselige Manager den Koffer öffnet, dessen Inhalt Millionen-, wenn nicht gar Milliardeneinnahmen verspricht, doziert er erst einmal 90 Minuten zum Thema SCO. Fragen braucht man ihm eigentlich keine zu stellen - er kennt sie alle aus dem Effeff.

"'Von den rund fünf Millionen Zeilen im Linux-Quellcode sind zwischen einer und 1,5 Millionen betroffen', sagt Blepp. Und dafür will SCO jetzt Geld sehen: 699 Dollar pro Linux-Server und 199 Dollar pro Desktop-PC - so lauten seine Preisvorstellungen. 'Privatleute, Schulen, Universitäten müssen natürlich nicht zahlen - nichtkommerzielle Nutzung soll kostenlos bleiben', betont der Manager. Selbstverständlich seien bei großen Firmen mit Hunderten oder Tausenden Linuxsystemen Rabatte möglich . . . .

"Blepp erklärt dies mit der besonderen Strategie bei Rechtsstreitigkeiten in den USA. 'Dort legt man nicht von Anfang an alles auf den Tisch, sondern bringt Argumente und Beweise nach und nach.'"



My computer translates it more or less laughably like this:

"'I have proofs here in the suit-case', say Gregory Blepp, Vice President of SCO and responsible for the license business. But before the talk-blessed manager opens the suit-case, whose contents of millions -- if does not even promise billion -- incomes, doziert it only once 90 minutes to the topic SCO. Questions needs to actually place one to it none - he knows her all from the Effeff.

"'Von that approximately five million lines in the Linux source code is concerned between an 1.5 million', says Blepp. And but SCO wants to see cash now: 699 dollar per Linux servers and 199 dollar per Desktop PC - in such a way its price conceptions read. 'Private individuals, schools, universities must not pay naturally - noncommercial use is to remain free', stresses the manager. Of course Linuxsystemen of discounts are possible at large companies with hundreds or thousands. . . .

"Blepp explains this with the special strategy with law cases in the USA. 'there one puts not from the outset everything on the desk, but brings arguments and proofs gradually.'"

Well, well, SCO wants to see cash now. I'm sure the computer got that part right. I'm guessing that Judges Wells and Kimball will be fascinated to learn this American custom of not showing in discovery everything you have in hand. I'm thinking IBM might be a tad interested as well to learn that SCO's pokiness has been a strategy, a gradual striptease, if you will, not because they couldn't find the code.

There is more. He says it was an ex-Microsoft manager who got them the money. And he says it was just a tactical decision not to fight the German provisional order before, but he plans on beginning negotiations in Germany shortly, after they do something about that order.

The article asks: "Can one believe this man? Or does simply only refined bluffer behind SCO, which wants to turn disconcerted enterprises doubtful drain letters, stand?" You said it, bub.

Who knew? In a suitcase. In Germany, where, last I heard, SCO was told not to talk like this.

UPDATE: A reader provides us with this translation:

"'I have proof right here in my suitcase,' says Gregory Blepp, Vice President of SCO and responsible for the licensing business. But before the talkative manager opens this case, whose content will result in millions or up to billions of profit, he gives a 90-minute lecture on SCO. You don't need to ask questions - he knows them all.

"'Out of the five millions lines of the Linux source code there are about 1 up to 1.5 million lines affected,' says Blepp. And now SCO wants to see money for that: $699 per Linux server and $199 per Desktop-PC - these are his price requests. 'Private users, schools, universities won't have to pay - noncommercial usage shall remain free as in beer", the manager emphasizes. Of course, there is a possibility for a discount for companies with hundreds or thousands of Linux installations.

"Blepp explains this with the special strategy in court cases in the USA. 'You don't show all your stuff at once at the beginning but rather step by step'."

Our translator says I have missed some goodies in the German text. I also didn't mention there is a picture of Blepp you can print out for your bedroom wall. No? You're right. It's probably copyrighted. You don't want to go to jail, you pirates. Here's what I missed:

"'Dann öffnet Blepp den Koffer und zeigt einige Seiten aus dem Linux-Programmiercode. "Die rot markierten Zeilen wurden eins zu eins aus Unix übernommen, blaue Schrift zeigt erforderliche Anpassungen von Unix zu Linux", erklärt er. Auf der ersten Seite findet sich keine einzige rote Zeile, auf den folgenden Seiten dominieren dann Rot und Blau. Beim gezeigten Code-Ausschnitt handelt es sich nach Blepps Angaben um eine Funktion zur Speicherverwaltung in Linux.'

"Then Blepp opens the case and shows some pages from the Linux source code. 'The red marked lines were copied 1:1 out of UNIX, the blue color means that there were some necessary adjustments from UNIX to Linux,' he explains. On the first page there is not a single red line, on the following pages there is red and lbue dominating. According to Blepp, the shown code snipplet is taken from a function for memory management in Linux."

and

"SCO hat sein Schicksal jedenfalls fest an den Streit um kopierte Programmzeilen gekettet. 'Wenn wir verlieren, dann könnte es für unser Stammgeschäft und damit für uns als Firma eng werden', sagt Blepp. 'Wenn wir gewinnen, dann wird das Auswirkungen auf unsere Bilanz haben - positive.'"

"SCO has bound its fate tightly to the controversy over copied lines of code. 'If we lose, it will be hard for our root business and for us as a company,' says Blepp. 'If we win, this will affect our business' balance sheet -- positively'."

and

"'Wir haben bei Microsoft angefragt, ob sie sich bei uns engagieren wollen. Sie wollten nicht, brachten uns aber mit einem ehemaligen Manager zusammen, der uns Kontakte zu neuen Geldgebern vermittelte.'"

"'We asked Microsoft to get involved with us. They refused but relayed us to an ex-manager who arranged contacts to others with deep pockets.'"

  


The Missing Code Turns Up in Blepp's Suitcase in Germany. Say, what? | 460 comments | Create New Account
Comments belong to whoever posts them. Please notify us of inappropriate comments.
The Missing Code Turns Up in Blepp's Suitcase in Germany. Say, what?
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 12:54 PM EDT
What are the odds that those millions of lines are all (C) IBM?

They're still banging that "we control the vertical, we control the horizontal, we control your source code" drum.

---------------

Hi, I'm Darl 'Unix' McBride...

[ Reply to This | # ]

The Missing Code Turns Up in Blepp's Suitcase in Germany. Say, what?
Authored by: revdiablo on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 12:58 PM EDT
In Germany, where, last I heard, SCO was told not to talk like this.

This is all I could think the whole time I read this. Is there any liability for what this guy is saying? Perhaps the automatic translation is bad, but it can't be so far off as to entirely change the subject. It was my understanding that SCO in Germany was prevented from claiming Linux code is infringing. Perhaps someone with a bit more understanding of the German language and court system can help clear things up?

[ Reply to This | # ]

Part 1
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 12:58 PM EDT
"Ich have proofs right here in my suitcase" says Gregory Blepp, Vice
President of SCO and responsible for Licensing buisiness. But before the
talkative Manager opens this case, which content will result in Millions or up
to Billions of profit, he gives a 90 minutes lecture about SCO. You don't need
to ask questions - he knows them all.

[ Reply to This | # ]

The Missing Code Turns Up in Blepp's Suitcase in Germany. Say, what?
Authored by: robvarga on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 12:58 PM EDT
that will be EUR 10,000. please proceed to the counter.

[ Reply to This | # ]

The Missing Code Turns Up in Blepp's Suitcase in Germany. Say, what?
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 01:00 PM EDT
So does that mean they looked the Judge in the eye and lied right to his face
when they said that it was "impossible" to show the code?

[ Reply to This | # ]

The Missing Code Turns Up in Blepp's Suitcase in Germany. Say, what?
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 01:01 PM EDT
This can't be true. Nobody.... and I mean nobody, can be this stupid, can
they? Could they? Would they?

Or are they clever like a fox?

If this is part of their strategy, then what does this mean exactly? What
could their next step possibly be?

Trying to predict their next steps has become (laughably) impossible.

Me thinks a trap is laid somewhere... but where?


[ Reply to This | # ]

The Missing Code Turns Up in Blepp's Suitcase in Germany. Say, what?
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 01:08 PM EDT
The english translation is correct. Mr. Blepp showed a suite case full of code
sheets. The code is marked - red an blue. He sayed red code came directly from
unix to linux - blue code was adapted from unix.

OskarMaria

[ Reply to This | # ]

I've been waiting for the appropriate time to post this...
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 01:09 PM EDT
... and it looks like the time is now.

Three IPs for the Linux kings under the sky,
Seven for IBM in their halls of stone,
Nine for SGI doomed to die,
One for the dark Darl on his dark throne
In the land of Utah where the shadows lie.
One IP to rule them all, one IP to find them,
One IP to sue them all, and in the courtrooms bind them
In the land of Utah where the shadows lie.

MSS

[ Reply to This | # ]

The Missing Code Turns Up in Blepp's Suitcase in Germany. Say, what?
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 01:09 PM EDT
"I have proof here in this suitcase" says Gregory Blepp, vicepresident
of SCO and in charge of licensing. But before the talkative manager opens theis
suitcase which contents promises earnings in the millions or even billions, he
talks about SCO for 90 minutes. It is not really necessary to ask any questions,
he knows them all by heart.
"Of the about 5 million lines around 1 million to 1.5 million are
effected", Blepp says. And now SCO wants to see money for this: $
699.-/server and $199.-/workstation is waht he has in mind. "Private users,
schools, universities do not have to pay of course - non commercial use shall
remain free", emphasizes the manager. "Of course there will be special
discounts for companies with hundreds or thouseands of users...."

Blepp explains this with special strategies used during law cases in the USA.
"There you don't put all your evidense on the board right from the start,
but you produce evidence bit after bit."

[ Reply to This | # ]

The Missing Code Turns Up in Blepp's Suitcase in Germany. Say, what?
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 01:11 PM EDT
Human translation:

"I have the proof in this briefcase here", says Gregory Blepp, Vice
President of SCO responsible for licensing. But before the talkative manager
opens the briefcase, the contents of which promise millions if not billions of
revenue, he proceeds to lecture on SCO for 90 minutes. You don't need to ask him
any questions, he knows them all.

"Of the five million lines of code in the Linux source, one to 1.5 million
are affected," says Blepp. And that is what SCO now wants to charge money
for: $699 per Linux server and $199 per desktop-PC are his expectations.
"Individuals, schools and universities don't have to pay, of course,
non-commercial usage should remain free [as in beer]," the manager points
out. Of course, large companies with hundreds or thoussands of Linux systems can
expect to get rebates...

Blepp explains this with a special strategy used in court cases in the USA.
"You don't put everything on the table right away - you bring arguments and
proof step by step."

[Note how he says 1 to 1.5 million. Taken literally that would mean 1 to
1500000. Probably quite accurate. :-)]

[ Reply to This | # ]

The Missing Code Turns Up in Blepp's Suitcase in Germany. Say, what?
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 01:13 PM EDT
This is my try at a translation (not word-by-word):

"'I have proof in this suitcase', says Gregory Blepp, SCO VP for Licensing.
But before the talkative manager opens the suitcase (the contents promising
revenues in the millions, if not billions) he lectures for 90 minutes on te
topic SCO. There is really no need to ask him questions - he knows them all by
heart.
"'Off the 5 million lines of Linux source-code about 1 to 1.5 million lines
are affected', says Blepp. SCO now wants money for that: 699 USD per
Linux-Server and 199 USD per Desktop-PC - that are his thoughts on prices.
'Consumers, schools, universities don't have pay, naturally - non-commercial use
will stay free', emphasizes the manager.

Discounts for large corporations with hundreds or thousands of Linux-system will
be possible . . . .

"Blepp explains this with the special strategy for law-suits in the US.
'Over there, you don't put all the cards on the table at once but rather show
arguments and proof bit by bit.'"

[ Reply to This | # ]

The evidence was in Germany all the time? Suitcase?
Authored by: kberrien on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 01:17 PM EDT
....what?

I'm sorry. What?

This sounds like missing versuses from the first part of Pro's And Cons of
Hitchhiking. The heck with "west german skies on the ceiling" and
"arabs with knives at the foot of the bed".

Now its the smoking gun in a brief case in Germany? Perhaps the SCO exec's are
starting to go over the deep end?

[ Reply to This | # ]

The Missing Code Turns Up in Blepp's Suitcase in Germany. Say, what?
Authored by: tintak on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 01:20 PM EDT
Seems like the stock needs pumping again.
10000 Euros is a cheap price to pay, when compared to the return they can
expect.

For example JF Hunsaker Sr VP & GM, Unix Division SCOG sold around $700000
worth of stock on the 7th April 2004. (EDGAR Form 4 filed 2004-04-09)

If the stock rises on the "news" of this statement then they are
laughing all the way to the bank.

---
'it is literally impossible' for SCO to itself provide
direct proof' Mark J. Heise 02/06/04

[ Reply to This | # ]

Echoes of another, desparate man?
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 01:22 PM EDT
I have in my hand, a piece of paper...

[ Reply to This | # ]

The Missing Code Turns Up in Blepp's Suitcase in Germany. Say, what?
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 01:23 PM EDT
My German is reasonable (not native, nor native English). "'I have proofs here in the suit-case', say Gregory Blepp, Vice President of SCO and responsible for the license business. But before the eloquent manager opens the suit-case, that contains millions, if not promised a billion recources, he teaches 90 minutes on the SCO topic. No need to ask questions. He knows them all by heart.

"Of the approximately five million lines in the Linux source code between one and one and a half million are concerned, says Blepp. And for that SCO wants to see cash now: 699 dollar per Linux servers and 199 dollar per Desktop PC - are his proposals. 'Private individuals, schools, universities naturally do not have to pay - noncommercial use remains free of charge, emphasizes the manager. Of course discounts are possible for companies that have hundreds or thousands of Linux systems. . . .

"Blepp explains the strategy with law cases in the USA. 'There not all proof is brought to the table at the start, but brings arguments and proofs gradually.'"

[ Reply to This | # ]

The Missing Code Turns Up in Blepp's Suitcase in Germany. Say, what?
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 01:35 PM EDT
'Private individuals, schools, universities must not pay naturally - noncommercial use is to remain free', stresses the manager.

Well, that's just so gosh darn nice of them. Makes me feel warm and fuzzy all over.

Sorry, couldn't help myself.

[ Reply to This | # ]

The Missing Code Turns Up in Blepp's Suitcase in Germany. Say, what?
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 01:36 PM EDT
Hmm, failing to mitigate the damages would demolish their case, so swinging his
jaw may have just popped the 5 billion bubble.

[ Reply to This | # ]

Can he get it to Utah by Monday? Oh, dear, we need more time
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 01:38 PM EDT
SCO has to have something to show the Utah court by next Monday. Does SCO have
enough money left to fly Mr. Blepp and his suitcase to the U.S.? Will they have
enough time to get him a U.S. visa? Will Blepp have enough time to clear
customs?

Dear Judge Wells, we need more time, more time, more time.

[ Reply to This | # ]

At last!
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 01:38 PM EDT
The mystery of what was in the suitcase in Pulp Fiction is revealed! I guess SCO has been planning this longer than any of us suspected.

[ Reply to This | # ]

The Missing Code Turns Up in Blepp's Suitcase in Germany. Say, what?
Authored by: oldgreybeard on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 01:41 PM EDT
This should be really good. I'll be able to see the api includes in all of the
modules. That should expand a few hundred lines to several thousand.

I can't wait to see the 1,000,000 lines of source .... lets see the entire 2.6.5
kernel distribution is 178.2 MB in size figure about 40 bytes a source line an
the entire multi architecture distribution is only about 5,000,000 lines of
source tops.

So SCO is claiming over a fifth of the code is infringing.

BTW PJ, I hope you enjoyed all those licenses provided by Caldera for those UNIX
releases.

[ Reply to This | # ]

Thanks for the stout stick...
Authored by: bruce_s on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 01:50 PM EDT
In the Yahoo SCOX Finance group a message from si_tacuisse mentions that Blepp also says:

He said, that everybody expected that IBM would blacken the sky with lawyers who would bomb SCO out of the courtroom, and that the fact that the litigation is still going on actually is already proof of their case.

Now that seems to me that Blepp has given IBM another stick to beat them with in the courtroom.

Bruce S.

[ Reply to This | # ]

Doesn't matter: NOVELL'S copyrights still prevail
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 01:51 PM EDT

So what? NOVELL'S code shows up in Blepp's suitcase. NOVELL still has the
copyright filed in the U.S. that nullifies SCO.

NOVELL still stands in SCO's way, not only in the U.S., but all over the world.
It doesn't matter where the code is.

[ Reply to This | # ]

The Missing Code Turns Up in Blepp's Suitcase in Germany. Say, what?
Authored by: eisi on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 02:02 PM EDT
Just got a reply of the articles editor.

Gregory Blepp was in the SPIEGEL editorial office for a talk. Concerning the
proofs Blepp mentions, Blepp was always referring to Linux source code, as far
as the editor recalls. Blepp was in fact showing code, allegedly Linux source
code, where, allegedly, SCO helds rights to.

Citations in the article are explicitly authorised by Blepp.

I sum up Blepps citations with my translation here:

-----------------------------------------------------------
"Ich habe Beweise hier in dem Koffer", sagt Gregory Blepp
"I have proof here in my suitcase", says Gregory Blepp
-----------------------------------------------------------
"Von den rund fünf Millionen Zeilen im Linux-Quellcode sind zwischen einer
und 1,5 Millionen betroffen", sagt Blepp.
"Of five million lines of code in Linux, between one and 1,5 Million lines
are affected", says Blepp.
-----------------------------------------------------------
"Privatleute, Schulen, Universitäten müssen natürlich nicht zahlen -
nichtkommerzielle Nutzung soll kostenlos bleiben", betont der Manager.
"Private citizens, schools, universities need not pay, naturally -
non-commercial usage shall be free of charge", emphasizes the manager.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Blepp erklärt dies mit der besonderen Strategie bei Rechtsstreitigkeiten in den
USA. "Dort legt man nicht von Anfang an alles auf den Tisch, sondern bringt
Argumente und Beweise nach und nach."
Blepp explains this with the special strategies in lawsuits in the USA.
"You do not disclose everything you have in the beginning, but come up with
it step by step."
-----------------------------------------------------------
"Alle dachten, der Himmel wird schwarz vor IBM-Anwälten. Die bomben uns
binnen kürzester Zeit aus den Gerichtssaal." Doch dies sei dem IT-Riesen
nicht gelungen.
"Everbody was thinking, the sky will darken from IBM lawyers. They bomb us
out of court in no time." But the IT-Giant didn't succeed in this.
-----------------------------------------------------------
"Wir haben bei Microsoft angefragt, ob sie sich bei uns engagieren wollen.
Sie wollten nicht, brachten uns aber mit einem ehemaligen Manager zusammen, der
uns Kontakte zu neuen Geldgebern vermittelte."
"We have asked Microsoft, whether they want to step in and support us. They
didn't want to, but brought us together with a has-been manager, who arranged
contacts to new financial backers."
-----------------------------------------------------------
"Vorher muss aber die einstweilige Verfügung gegen unsere deutsche
Niederlassung weg."
"Beforehand, the intermediate injection against our german subsidiary has
to go away."
-----------------------------------------------------------
"Wir können das natürlich beweisen", versichert Blepp.
"Of course we can prove it", Blepp assures.
-----------------------------------------------------------
"Die rot markierten Zeilen wurden eins zu eins aus Unix übernommen, blaue
Schrift zeigt erforderliche Anpassungen von Unix zu Linux", erklärt er.
"Lines marked red were taken one-to-one from Unix, the blue font shows the
necessary adaptions from Unix to Linux", he explains.
-----------------------------------------------------------
"Wenn wir verlieren, dann könnte es für unser Stammgeschäft und damit für
uns als Firma eng werden", sagt Blepp. "Wenn wir gewinnen, dann wird
das Auswirkungen auf unsere Bilanz haben - positive."
"When we lose, then it could become very difficult for our main bussiness
and our firm", says Blepp. "Wenn we win, then this will have impact on
our balance - beneficial."
-----------------------------------------------------------

-Eisi

[ Reply to This | # ]

You Might Be A SCOundrel if...
Authored by: BrianW on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 02:10 PM EDT
Man, what a soap opera! I wouldn’t believe this could ever happen if it were
fiction. I had this ready to post on April Fool’s Day, but I
uncharacteristically decided to show some restraint. I thought SCO’s surprises
were diminishing, but this one is really a whopper! Do I understand it
correctly? Has SCO’s inability to keep its mouth shut now potentially damaged
its case in two lawsuits in one country and defied a direct order in another?

Jeepers!

In celebration, I’ve tweaked my Artificial Intransigence program (aka RoboDarl)
by turning up the cynicism filter and adding a bit of Jeff Foxworthy (to whom I
deeply apologize). The result is:

You might be a SCOundrel if…

…you keep your most compelling evidence hidden in a suitcase half a world away
from the court ordering its production.

…you think shaking down kids for their lunch money is SO five minutes ago.

…you take pride in how your company’s technology has made a MAJOR LEAP into the
90s.

…you think “a billion gazillion” is a real number if you put the word “dollars”
after it.

…you believe the words “on pain of death and dismemberment” are in the U.S.
Constitution.

…the very thought of someone giving something away for free gives you chest
pains.

…you see an utter lack of evidence as a “minor technicality.”

…”Go Fish” is your favorite card game.

…your engineers have developed the annoying habit of answering every question
with, “Yeah, sure. Whatever.”

…you think it’s a good idea to proclaim in public interviews that your
bodyguards were “packing” while on a prestigious university campus.

…your lawyer just shakes his head and sighs every time you have “good news” or a
“great idea.”

…you think that actually looking at the code produced by a grep command for
evidence in a five billion dollar lawsuit is, well, just too much of a bother.

…you think indemnification is a good idea.

…you think indemnification is a bad idea.

…you regard a direct court order as a “suggestion.”

…nobody in your company is using the business cards you had printed up with the
clever tag line, “You Innovate, We Litigate!”

…you think that “working with law enforcement authorities” means issuing a press
release that says you are “working with law enforcement authorities.”

…in real life, if you were to hang out with rocket scientists, MIT
mathematicians, and spectral analysts, you’d have a very difficult time keeping
quiet about the number of wedgies you administered.

…you keep re-watching that South Park episode hoping to find out what the gnomes
did right before “Step 4. Profit!!!”

…your own PR department has, on more than one occasion, refused your specific
request to issue a press release that says simply, “BLAH, BLAH, BLAH! JUST GIVE
US THE MONEY!”

==================

Thanks, SCO, for all the entertainment!

---
//Brian
#define IANAL

[ Reply to This | # ]

"Free as in Beer?"
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 02:12 PM EDT
When is Beer *ever* free?

In the US, it's always taxed, at least. And pretty much any place where beer is
consumed, it is the primary product of the establishment, and carries a price
that represents a substantial margin.

I really don't understand the meaning behind the whole "free as in
beer" idiom. Does beer tend to be free in Europe or something? Because it
seems to have some clear and well-understood meaning, and it seems to be
something that Europeans tend to say.

Beer is NEVER free in the US.

[ Reply to This | # ]

The Missing Code Turns Up in Blepp's Suitcase in Germany. Say, what?
Authored by: spodula on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 02:31 PM EDT
I think the next meeting in the IBM case may be quite amusing.

sco: We cant find the code.
IBM: Dont worry, the code has been located at your offices in germany, We dont
mind giving you a few days to FedEx them over.
sco: Erm. ok....

[ Reply to This | # ]

Dumbest Thing I've Ever Seen
Authored by: dmscvc123 on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 02:42 PM EDT
SCO is currently trying to delay the court proceedings after their "good
faith" effort and now this guy is blabbering about saying it was all a part
of their strategy. The judge should be REAL happy to hear that. IBM and all the
others involved in legal proceedings with SCO should trounce them in court. I
guess no one has to worry about any penalties since SCO outright is saying
"SHOW ME THE MONEY!" rather than mitigate damages.

[ Reply to This | # ]

The Missing Code Turns Up in Blepp's Suitcase in Germany. Say, what?
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 02:44 PM EDT
1000000 / 200 = 5000 A4
5000 / 0,10(0,08+air) = 500mm
0,210m * 0,297m * 5000 * (80g/m2) = 24,9kg

SCO manager Blepp suit-case
width = 500mm
weight = 24,9kg

[ Reply to This | # ]

One-point-five million lines of code in Linux...
Authored by: Totosplatz on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 02:46 PM EDT

I wonder how many of those many millions of lines of code are actually in GNU code?

---
All the best to one and all.

[ Reply to This | # ]

The Missing Code Turns Up in Blepp's Suitcase in Germany. Say, what?
Authored by: Nick_UK on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 02:49 PM EDT
From the German translation above:

"'Out of the five millions lines of the Linux source code there are about 1
up to 1.5 million lines affected,...'"

Well, this reminds me of an old Pub trick here in the UK.

You bet a mate that there will be between 30 and 40 thousands supporters at next
weeks home game (football, not 'socker' ;) ). Of course, with a Team that gets
at most 15,000 people the bet looks really good and they take it.

Then when you demand your winnings they realise you said between 30 AND
40,000...

SCO is trying it on!!!

Nick :D

[ Reply to This | # ]

The Missing Code Turns Up in Blepp's Suitcase in Germany. Say, what?
Authored by: sbungay on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 02:50 PM EDT
When he opened the case was he showing it's contents from afar or did he allow
close inspection. It doesn't take much to print out some C source mark it up
with blue and red then claim that it is something it isn't. If he did not allow
close inspection, and it would have to be inspected by somebody who knows the
code, then you have to ask why not? SCO will probably say you have to sign an
NDA, but my bet is that they don't have any cards in their hand.
They are now playing poker, not chess... and I think they are bluffing. Umm..
also, wouldn't showing this supposed proof make the previous statement in court,
that the could not provide the code because they didn't have it, place them in
danger of being held in contempt?


---
Programmer: A red eyed mumbling mamal that converses with inanimate objects.

IANAL IAAP

[ Reply to This | # ]

The Missing Code Turns Up in Blepp's Suitcase in Germany. Say, what?
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 02:51 PM EDT
On the first page there is not a single red line, on the following pages there is red and lbue dominating. According to Blepp, the shown code snipplet is taken from a function for memory management in Linux.

*laugh*

They STILL haven't come up with anything worth talking about other than ate_utils.c?

[ Reply to This | # ]

Anyone taking bets?
Authored by: inode_buddha on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 02:52 PM EDT
I'm thinking that the code Blepp has is the same code that was offered under
NDA.

---
"When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom, not price." --
Richard M. Stallman

[ Reply to This | # ]

The Missing Code Turns Up in Blepp's Suitcase in Germany. Say, what?
Authored by: DaveF on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 02:54 PM EDT
hoooooooweeeee! Man oh man oh man oh man oh man, it doesn't get any better than
this...

---
Imbibio, ergo sum

[ Reply to This | # ]

The Missing Code Turns Up in Blepp's Suitcase in Germany. Say, what?
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 02:57 PM EDT
I don't smell conspiracy, I smell dumbass.

[ Reply to This | # ]

memory management
Authored by: mobrien_12 on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 03:08 PM EDT
"...a function for memory management in Linux."

Don't tell me they are parading the malloc thing again.

[ Reply to This | # ]

The Missing Code Turns Up in Blepp's Suitcase in Germany. Say, what?
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 03:31 PM EDT
If I get this correctly, then his plan is in fact to take their lawsuits global
- i.e. attempt the same courtroom "proof" (spoof?) that they are
working on in Utah. Maybe they have been inspired by the MS vs Lindows success.

One just hopes that the other side's (Linuxtag's) lawyers will be smart enough
to summarize the ignonimous stalling tactics from Utah. I do not have much
evidence, but I think that German courts are usually quick to throw out
obviously phoney plaintiffs ...

[ Reply to This | # ]

FUD in Spain 4-11
Authored by: constant peers on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 03:40 PM EDT
Negocios | EL PAIS | Empresas - 11-04-2004


ENTREVISTA :DARL MCBRIDE Usuarios de Linux: piénsenlo bien
SCO amenaza con denuncias a quienes implanten este
sistema, que "copia" su código
PATRICIA FERNÁNDEZ DE LIS - (Tamaño 14 kb.)

Darl McBride es presidente de SCO y, probablemente, el
personaje más odiado entre usuarios y desarrolladores de
software libre. En una entrevista concedida a EL PAÍS
explicó su posición: "Estamos deseando llegar al juzgado
para que se oigan nuestros argumentos. Porque la verdad es
lo que importa. Y está de nuestro lado", afirma.


Businesses | THE PAIS (EL PAIS)| Companies - 11-04-2004


INTERVIEW: DARL MCBRIDE: Users of Linux: piénsenlo well
(reflect well on it)
SCO threatens denunciations to those who implant
(install?) this system, that "copies" its code
PATRICIA LILY FERNANDEZ - (So large 14 kb.)


Darl McBride is president of SCO and, probably, the
personage more hated between users and developer(s) of
free software. In an interview granted to the COUNTRY (El
Pais) it (sic) explained his position: "we are wishing to
arrive at the court so that our arguments are heard.
Because the truth is what matters. And it is of (on) our
side ", (he) affirms.

automatically translated by

http://www.humanitas-international.org/newstran/index.html
(Online translation of international newspapers)

Sue Con Odd(s), State Claims Onerously, Stress Clueless
Objectives, Sadistic Customer's Ordeal, Source Completely
Obsolete, Scoundrels Crave Offscouring, µSoft Conspiracy
Obscured, Self-incriminating Compulsive Obsession, S..

Fiat Linux

---
yes mind, it does matter. yes matter, do mind

[ Reply to This | # ]

The Missing Code Turns Up in Blepp's Suitcase in Germany. Say, what?
Authored by: Greebo on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 03:41 PM EDT
This has just made my day!

Not only does SCO get slapped by the judge in the RedHat case because Darl can't keep his mouth shut, but then this guy goes and spills the beans in direct violation of a court order in Germany. Fantastic. He must be related to Darl, or maybe it's part of the job description ?

"Must be able to converse fluently and verbosely in the face of overwhelming contradictory evidence and court orders to inflate the stock price for the good of all Darlkind"

Must have close ties to people with lots of money so we can fleece them later and keep the stock up for as long as we can."

So, we have...

1. Court order in Germany broken - €10K fine.
2. 1M - 1.5M lines of code in brief case that SCO told the US Court they need another 5 months to prepare.
3. Admission that M$ is involved - Again.
4. Admission that they have been dragging their feet in the US deliberately.
5. Admission that they are not interested in IP damage limitation (if any exists), just the CASH $$$$.
6. Well, I don't think we need a 6. This should be enough for IBM to be getting on with.

I hope Darl thinks he got his monies worth out of this guy!

By the way... How big is Blepp? He had 1 - 1.5 Million lines of code in his briefcase on paper?

So assume 1.5 Million lines of code, and 100 lines of code per sheet, and 10g weight per sheet gives....

1,500,000/100 = 15,000 sheets * 10g = 150,000g = 150Kg.

I've seen someone bench press 150Kg. It's not an average size guy doing that. If Bleep can carry 150Kg in his briefcase then not only is that a very Strong briefcase, but it might also explain why he's willing to shoot his mouth off - Who's going to argue with him?!

---
-----------------------------------------
Recent Linux Convert and Scared Cat Owner

[ Reply to This | # ]

News Flash! Researchers at Stonehenge uncover missing lines of code
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 03:49 PM EDT
It seems a determined teamed of researchers at Stonehenge have uncovered some
lines of Druid code that have showed up in Linux. When the lines (which are
inscribed on stone tablets that were found buried underneath one of the large
stone columns on the ancient site) are held up to the Sun, at the correct angle,
while standing on your left foot, with the wind at you back, a very plain and
obvious copyright notice can be seen.

Researchers are working hard to translate the ancient text so that we will know
once and for all who the real owner is.

Early (and unverified) translations indicate the copyright may in fact belong to
OCS, the ancient Druid system architect, who is credited with creating
Stonehenge. But debate rages on whether or not the researchers are holding the
tablet upside down or not, meaning they might have the letters backwards......

[ Reply to This | # ]

Comment Of McBride Overheard
Authored by: dmscvc123 on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 03:52 PM EDT
"I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist
indoctrination, Communist subversion and the international Communist conspiracy
to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids. Do you realize that Linux
is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had
to face?" -Darl "Ripper" McBride

[ Reply to This | # ]

MATH TEST HERE
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 03:53 PM EDT

MATH QUIZ

Million lines. Figure 80 lines of code per page, divided into 1,000,000 lines or
so. So...that's 12,500 pages. Hmmmm. 25 reams. Say, oh, hmmmm, 6# per ream. Wow!
Sure hope his back doesn't give out lugging a 150 pounds of paper around! Of
course, I could be wrong. There could be 160 lines per page and that would yield
about 75#s of paper…still...




[ Reply to This | # ]

Seriously, is this admissable in US court?
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 04:05 PM EDT
If it is, I think it REALLY messes up SCO's IBM case. Or am I missing something
here?

[ Reply to This | # ]

What does this mean for associated lawsuits?
Authored by: kcassidy on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 04:07 PM EDT
OK. So SCO has the proof they say they did not have. And it's in Germany, with a SCO employee, who (as far as some other poster has made note, but for which I do not have proof) works for the US division of SCO in order to get around the gag order in Germany.

If this statement is true, would IBM be permitted to subpoena the information from SCO at this point, indicating that SCO knew they had the information and did not turn it over during discovery to date?

Further question: Should SCO delay in turning over this 'smoking gun' as it were, would this then give Red Hat a reason to force SCO to continue with their suit and no longer delay proceedings?

[ Reply to This | # ]

...is this the connection to S2?
Authored by: booda on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 04:12 PM EDT

"'Wir haben bei Microsoft angefragt, ob sie sich bei uns engagieren wollen. Sie wollten nicht, brachten uns aber mit einem ehemaligen Manager zusammen, der uns Kontakte zu neuen Geldgebern vermittelte.'"

"'We asked Microsoft to get involved with us. They refused but relayed us to an ex-manager who arranged contacts to others with deep pockets.'"

I think the operative term here is "ex-manager". Would that be the elusive Mr. Anderer of Halloween X fame?

booda

[ Reply to This | # ]

Slow Discovery EXPLAINED
Authored by: Tsu Dho Nimh on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 04:30 PM EDT
""Blepp explains this with the special strategy with law cases in the
USA. 'there one puts not from the outset everything on the desk, but brings
arguments and proofs gradually.'""

That expolains why IBM has had to file so many requests for discovery ... SCO is
using Blepp as a consultant and he thinks that delaying discovery is the way
it's done here.

[ Reply to This | # ]

The Missing Code Turns Up in Blepp's Suitcase in Germany. Say, what?
Authored by: Crispy on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 04:32 PM EDT
I sure don't want to take SCO's side (heaven forbid).... but as far as I can see
this seems to be a clever move.
They can pay the 10K Euro fine in germany with a smile. At the same time, they
get the judge in Utah running around in circles shouting funny words. And that's
(as far as I can guess) their idea: Get the judge as mad a possible so that the
case is thrown out. Then they can appeal ("hey this was unfair") and
drag this on forever. And the longer this lasts, the more money they will get
from their sponsor or their 'licensees'.

Just my $.02
Chris

[ Reply to This | # ]

The Missing Code Turns Up in Blepp's Suitcase in Germany. Say, what?
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 04:34 PM EDT
This has to be what they have decided to submit as discovery in the IBM case. Is
there any way that SCOX can make these claims in Germany and then not release
the same as discovery?

The strategy then must be to draw things out by forcing IBM to discredit their
evidence with expert testimony. IIRC, SCOX has to show which lines of Linux code
are in SYSV and state what gives them the rights to each line. Assuming that
what Bleep has in his suit case is similar to examples we have already seen,
there could be hundreds of cases that have to analyzed. In the end, Im sure the
explanation of why there is matching code will vindicate Linux, but that could
take a while. Although, maybe Im wrong and IBM has already gone through
everything and is ready to tear it apart.

Hopefully, SCOX has been their usual incompetent selves and included lots of
examples of code they lifted from somewhere else and put into SYSV. Is there any
chance the judge for this case reaches the same conclusion as judge in BSD case
and find that ownership issues for SYSV are so murky that it is unlikly that
SCOX can prove their case?

[ Reply to This | # ]

SCO's WMD!
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 04:38 PM EDT
How could you possibly doubt it?

By the way, where do you suppose SCO got the idea for color coding? I hope
you're flattered, PJ.

[ Reply to This | # ]

  • SCO's WMD! - Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 09:12 PM EDT
Shades of Old Senator Joe McCarthy
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 04:41 PM EDT
"'I have proof right here in my suitcase,' says Gregory Blepp, Vice President of SCO..."

Very interesting. In the 1950s, the infamous Senator Joe McCarthy used this same technique to string along journalists. "I have in my hands," he would say, "a list of 130 State department employees, known to authorities as communists." They ate it up.

But he never go around to letting them have a copy of that list and virtually all his accusations proved bogus.

Eventually reality caught up with the Senator and eventually it will catch up with SCO.

--Mike Perry

http://www.InklingBooks.com/inklingblog/

[ Reply to This | # ]

Heck the story was getting a little dull
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 04:56 PM EDT
But I think SCO has managed to keep the story line going. PJ's book is going to
make dam good reading.

There is a worry, the courts could bring the first part to an end in the next
few weeks. Reading about IBM systematically pulling SCO apart, will that be an
entertaining.

[ Reply to This | # ]

Is my german really lousy or...
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 04:56 PM EDT
am I the only one noticing that toward the end he claims that in the next four
to six weeks we will see the infringing code? Or is he repeating good ole Darl
(about 3 months later)

[ Reply to This | # ]

The Missing Code Turns Up in Blepp's Suitcase in Germany. Say, what?
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 04:59 PM EDT
Now we know what all the SCO guys have been doing!
They have been going over all those lines of code!

Someone who posts on Groklaw has a signiture with
a quote by Stephen Von-Nichols, something like
"Just when you thought ..."

So, answer this: is Blepp Larry, Mo or Curly?

[ Reply to This | # ]

"Can you believe this man?"
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 05:38 PM EDT
No.
There goes another 10,000 Euros.

[ Reply to This | # ]

The Missing Code Turns Up in Blepp's Suitcase in Germany. Say, what?
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 05:39 PM EDT
Hummmmmm Memory Management, Hummmmm . A code "snippit"?!?!?

Let me guess that is all SCO will show on the 19th, just like the header files
they claim are theirs, etc. Me thinks that come the 19th we are going to see a
lot of LINUX files SCO will claim belong to them... without one line of proof
that they were copied from UNIX (they will claim they were
"obfuscated" -- 'REALLY they were your honor-- would we lie to
you?").

The case is about to morph again: this time they will claim the 9 zillon files
are "non-literal" copies of UNIX files and are derivative works of
UNIX, so the case will be morphed into one about the definition of a dirivative
work -- what is a dirivative work?? Linux is an un-authorized dirivative work of
UNIX (forget the thing about POSIX standard it is controled by SCO, so LINIX
which is based on POSIX is still anun-authorized dirivative work of SCO IP). As
to IBM... Well AIX is an unauthorized dirivatrive of UNIX even if they created
something from scratch, copyrighted it, etc., the second it touched UNIX it
became an extention of UNIX and is now owned by SCO....

Maybe the title should have been Missing Code turns up in *BLEEP*'s Briefcase.
Can we BLEEP SCO from the face of the earth???

Bobcat

[ Reply to This | # ]

Legal Question: How will this get into the courtroom?
Authored by: crs17 on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 06:27 PM EDT
Blepp's suitcase has to be the most absurd thing I've heard in this pretty
absurd case. But at the moment, it's just an attributed quote half a world
away. "The court" doesn't read the newspapers. Can these statements
(or the contents of Blepp's briefcase) be somehow brought into any of the active
courtrooms? By whom and how?

To some extent, Blepp can reasonably be assumed to be speaking for SCO. But he
wasn't speaking to the court. He probably was speaking in violation of the
German court order, which means that the statements can be brought into a German
court while SCO's opponents argue SCO broke the court order and ask for
penalties.

Here in the US, the "be quiet" request was not an official order (I
think). Can IBM complain in Utah that SCO isn't being quiet? How would they do
that?

Can IBM use the Blepp statement in a response to SCO request for more time? SCO
can just deny the whole thing as a misattributed quote and blame it on the
publication. Could IBM then subpeona Blepp and the briefcase to support their
motion to end SCO's delaying?

[ Reply to This | # ]

The SGI code turns up again
Authored by: Paul Shirley on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 06:27 PM EDT
On the first page there is not a single red line, on the following pages there is red and lbue dominating. According to Blepp, the shown code snipplet is taken from a function for memory management in Linux

The SCOG slideshow of 'stolen' code was SGI contributed memory management code. Anyone else wondering if that's what's in the suitcase?

If it is this is hilarious since that code is not in Linux and is not owned by SCOG even if it was.

[ Reply to This | # ]

Usual plot
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 06:33 PM EDT
Somehow this all follows the usual plot an still the journalists are not capable to ask the right questions.
"Die Kurzversion der SCO-Geschichte lautet etwa so: 1995 erwarb eine Firma namens Santa Cruz Operation die Rechte am Unix-Quellcode von der Firma Novell. "
In short the history of SCO is : 1995 a company named Santa Cruz Operation (SCO) bought the rights of the unix source from the company Novell.
SCO vs. SCO aka. Caldera, the change of name works.
No mentionion about uncertainty who bought wha.t
Linux vs. Unix, Unix is a trademark of the Open Group but what else? That parts of "Unix" show up in Linux doesn't mean anything. There are free standards, there is BSD and if IBM put some source GPLed from AIX, it is "Unix" source somehow, but the ownership...
No news, but hopefully some ammunition for the lawyers of IBM, RH and Novell. FUD from the the old days stated again.

[ Reply to This | # ]

The Missing Code Turns Up in Blepp's Suitcase in Germany. Say, what?
Authored by: radix2 on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 06:35 PM EDT
Taking Herr Blepp's comment at face value, he claims 1 Million to 1.5 Million
lines are infringing. Another way to write that might be 1250000+/-20%. I'm sure
the scientists amongst you would chortle over that margin of error in an
experiment. You would have to throw the results out as being too innaccurate for
use in building a theory.

Now if they got it down to +/-1% someone might listen as it would show they have
been rigorous in their analysis and it can be independently proved. Until then,
TSG can take their MIT/NASA/Pixie analysis and shove it in their
<place-where-the-sun-dont-shine>

[ Reply to This | # ]

Is Mad Magazine missing its mascot?
Authored by: miniver on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 06:54 PM EDT

I swear, the photo of Blepp looks remarkably like Alfred E. Newman, the mascot of Mad Magazine. Try it yourself -- open the links in separate windows and decide for yourself.

[ Reply to This | # ]

The Missing Code Turns Up in Blepp's Suitcase in Germany. Say, what kind of suitcase is that?
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 07:07 PM EDT
Let's see...

1,000,000 lines of code only (be conservative please)

50 lines of text on a standard A4 page (be conservative again)

Assume no line of the text file spans two pages in the printout.

That leaves us with 20,000 sheet of papers in the guy's suitcase to say the
least.

Each pack of paper (standard on you can find in any office supply store) have
500 pages so neatly packed from the factory. Imagine, 40 times as much coming
out of a printer.

What kind of suitcase was that? And how much does this guy exercise to be able
to carry that around?

[ Reply to This | # ]

The Missing Code Turns Up in Blepp's Suitcase in Germany. Say, what?
Authored by: tyche on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 07:12 PM EDT
When I first read the header on the main page, I thought, "is this a
JOKE?"

My mis-reading was, "The Missing Code Turns Up in BLEEP'S Suitcase in
Germany." (Emphasis mine)

Then I read through the article and comments and discovered my mistake.

Then I wondered if my mis-reading didn't make it come off sounding better. Like
his whole statement should have been [EXPLETIVE DELETED] (or, in other words,
BLEEPED)

Craig
Tyche

---
"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of
knowledge."
Stephen Hawking

[ Reply to This | # ]

The Experiment.
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 07:17 PM EDT
Remember Eben Moglen saying we are all part of a big experiment? People do not
understand this new phenomenom. Business people do not understand how to fight
this phenomenom with their financial powers. Some adapt, some die, some fight
(and die). They have the money, but they can't figure out how to compete with
something which is more Free as in speech and more free as in beer.

So why not experiment with this on a legal level? Would that be worth all the
money from Sun and Microsoft? As investment to see which methods work when
fighting FLOSS and which don't... as a test case for future legal cases?

You see, business people NEVER invest when they don't think something to their
advantage can't come out of it. And the SCO license model doesn't seem to be
fruitful, never was, and i doubt the companies involved ever believed themselves
it ever was.

Ofcourse, the question remains: "What do they have to gain with this?"
What can they learn from it, or from Groklaw, as advantage for their proprietary
software business? Action -> reaction by the FLOSS community is the one i'm
thinking about. More specifically, the Windows source leak and the DDoSes. But
what else?

[ Reply to This | # ]

Smokescreen?
Authored by: Dormouse on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 07:30 PM EDT
This is just speculation, I have no factual basis for any of what follows. Tin
foil hat at the ready...

I don't think this story is intended for the benefit of SCO's legal case (if
they have one at all). Strange that they should issue a press release in
Germany one day before the "No Euro Software patents" demonstration.
Maybe the press will be distracted from what is happening in neighbouring
Belguim? It wouldn't matter if it is the 'NDA' code in the breifcase, it would
only need to appear valid for a few hours.

[ Reply to This | # ]

Blepp's Picture
Authored by: Darkside on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 07:31 PM EDT
I also didn't mention there is a picture of Blepp you can print out for your bedroom wall. No? You're right. It's probably copyrighted. You don't want to go to jail, you pirates.
Taking a copy of Blepp's picture to put on a dartboard would be fair use, no?

[ Reply to This | # ]

Old DIFF file
Authored by: wilsonm80 on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 07:38 PM EDT
My guess is that Blepp got his hands on an old DIFF of similarities between
Linux and Unix. I'm guessing that SCO did at one point have somebody compare
files from the two systems, with exact line matches in red and partial matches
in blue. I'm also guessing SCO is trying to pretend the old comparison doesn't
exist because (in common with most stupid pattern-matching algorithms) it is
full of false positives and proves nothing interesting.

I'm guessing that Blepp got his hands on a copy and thinks it will bolster his
case in the EU. Conclusion: SCO's left hand doesn't know what the right is
doing. I don't think they're purposefully concealing evidence from the court;
Blepp simply hasn't figured out that he isn't holding any evidence.

Max Wilson

[ Reply to This | # ]

The Missing Code Turns Up in Blepp's Suitcase in Germany. Say, what?
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 08:28 PM EDT
A million lines of code????

Hmmm. Let's just say (for the sake of argument) 50 lines of code per page. 1
million lines. That's 20,000 pieces of paper.

One hell of a briefcase...

...or someone is lying.

[ Reply to This | # ]

Infringing Code HowTo
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 08:28 PM EDT
You can locate infringing code in Linux source files using the free GNU Code
Comparator that comes with all Linux distributions.

Just type the command

gcc -E file.c

to get a listing.

I haven't figured out how to get color coded listings yet. Maybe one of the
experts at SCO can help us with the more advanced gcc features.

[ Reply to This | # ]

Let's keep cool and not over interpret it
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 08:28 PM EDT
First of all i would like to say:
  1. I'm a (native) German and
  2. I'm a reader of DER SPIEGEL for about 25 years now.
One thing you should keep in mind about the SPIEGEL is, that this magazine is know for it's provocative style in their own writing. Germans may know this by the phrase "schnodderige Art". So we should take care about what they actually claim as facts or really qoutations. For example the sentence

Und dafür will SCO jetzt Geld sehen:

is some kind of an imputation of the SPIEGEL which here became

Well, well, SCO wants to see cash now..

as if Mr. Blepp would have said it that way, but actually this is the wording of the SPIEGEL.

I think the most important part of the article are the last three paragraphs and here's my humble try of a "dictionarrow" translation. For some terms, i have incuded links to a dictionary where you might try to look for alternative semantics.

    Mit deutschen Unternehmen, die Linux einsetzen, will Blepp in den nächsten Wochen und Monaten Verhandlungen über Lizenzzahlungen aufnehmen. "Vorher muss aber die einstweilige Verfügung gegen unsere deutsche Niederlassung weg." Mitarbeiter des hiesigen SCO-Ablegers dürfen unter Androhung von 10.000 Euro Strafe nämlich nicht mehr behaupten, der Linux-Code enthalte aus Unix kopierte Sequenzen. "Wir können das natürlich beweisen", versichert Blepp. Wegen des laufenden Streits mit IBM habe man dies aber aus taktischen Gründen nicht getan und die einstweilige Verfügung im Juni 2003 zunächst akzeptiert.

    Deutsche Linux-Nutzer sollen zahlen

    Doch damit soll nun Schluss sein. In vier bis sechs Wochen will SCO betroffene Codesequenzen liefern und die einstweilige Verfügung aushebeln. Dann öffnet Blepp den Koffer und zeigt einige Seiten aus dem Linux-Programmiercode. "Die rot markierten Zeilen wurden eins zu eins aus Unix übernommen, blaue Schrift zeigt erforderliche Anpassungen von Unix zu Linux", erklärt er. Auf der ersten Seite findet sich keine einzige rote Zeile, auf den folgenden Seiten dominieren dann Rot und Blau. Beim gezeigten Code-Ausschnitt handelt es sich nach Blepps Angaben um eine Funktion zur Speicherverwaltung in Linux.

    Kann man diesem Mann glauben? Oder stehen hinter SCO einfach nur raffinierte Bluffer, die verunsicherten Unternehmen zweifelhafte Ablassbriefe andrehen wollen? SCO hat sein Schicksal jedenfalls fest an den Streit um kopierte Programmzeilen gekettet. "Wenn wir verlieren, dann könnte es für unser Stammgeschäft und damit für uns als Firma eng werden", sagt Blepp. "Wenn wir gewinnen, dann wird das Auswirkungen auf unsere Bilanz haben - positive."

Picture:
SCO-Manager Blepp: "Of course we can prove it. "

    Within the next weeks, Blepp want's to start negotiations with german companies about royalty payments. "But afore, the restraining order against our german subsidiary has to go away." Employers of the local SCO branch are denied by fine of 10,000 Euro to purport that Linux code would contain copied parts of Unix. "Of course we can prove it", Blepp assures. Because od the ongoing controversal with IBM, for tactical reasons this was not done and the restraining order was at first accepted in June 2003.

    German Linux Users should pay

    But this should come to an end now. In about four to six weeks, SCO want's to present the affected parts of code and annul the restraining order. Then Blepp opens the case and shows some pages of the Linux source code. "The red marked lines where taken one to one from Unix, blue text indicates necessary adaptations from Unix to Linux", he explains. On the first page there is not a single red line to be found, on the following pages red and bue are dominating. The presented code section is, according to Blepp's allegations, a function of the Linux memory management.

    Can one believe this man? Or are there sophisticated bluffers standing behind SCO who want to foist doubtful letters of indulgence on unsettled Companies [1]? SCO has bound its fate tightly to the controversy over copied lines of programming code. "If we lose, it could become tight for our root business and for us as a company," says Blepp. "If we win, this will affect our balance sheet -- positivel."

    [1] Does this translation makes any sense to you? Well, the original German is an example of the typical SPIEGEL style of making many words which all try to sound a little more meaningful than whatever the author really wants to say here ;-)

[ Reply to This | # ]

The Missing Code Turns Up in Blepp's Suitcase in Germany. Say, what?
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 08:33 PM EDT

I think it's a ploy;
first; trying to distance M$ from the controvers

and 2nd this statement;
'Private users, schools, universities won't have to pay - noncommercial usage
shall remain free as in beer", the manager emphasizes. Of course, there is
a possibility for a discount for companies with hundreds or thousands of Linux
installations.'

I think they try to "fish out" reaction from the mass, to see if we
would no longer defend Linux --Fat Chance Darl
And this is bribery I may add.



[ Reply to This | # ]

Voodoo Code
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 08:58 PM EDT

Do show that SCO doo that you do so well.

Do FUD that SCO dud; you go, dude?

[ Reply to This | # ]

..in my, uh, suitcase That's the ticket
Authored by: SpinyNorman on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 09:24 PM EDT
Right here, with, with red lines That's it RED is line for line from uh, UNIX,
yeah and the uh the uh BLUE is uh yeah That's it between 1 and 1.5 MILLION lines
right HERE in my uh my suitcase...

SCOG should pay John Lovitz royalties

[ Reply to This | # ]

take a deep breath
Authored by: gdeinsta on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 09:41 PM EDT

Please people, calm down and don't lose sight of the forest for the trees. "I have proof right here in my suitcase" is not a claim to have every page of so-called proof in his suitcase.

Furthermore, there is nothing new in Blepp's interview. Darl and/or Brian has already said all the same things. Yes, including admitting not wanting to mitigate. There is no new evidence here. The only issue here is whether he is breaking an injunction from a German court.

Move along, move along. Nothing to see here.

[ Reply to This | # ]

  • refined bluffer - Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, April 14 2004 @ 12:54 PM EDT
They are absolutely right. There are millions of lines of code that are exactly the same.
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 09:43 PM EDT
You'd better start paying out licenses. All you have to do is look at the code
in the briefcase ... all of the lines that are simply newlines are marked red.
The ones that are blue, are varying whitespace before an oppen or close comment
(/* or */). All 1 to 1.5 million of them.

I'm gonna rush out an pay for a license right now.

[ Reply to This | # ]

Same old "carnie" act
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 09:56 PM EDT
Whenever a scox execs says anything, I can't help but visualize some depression
era carnie barker, with a straw hat and everything.

"Step right up ladies and gentlemen, you won't beleive your eyes. Right
here in this sealed briefcase, I possess evidence that is worth millions - no
BILLIONS - of dollars. All of which will be soon be owned by the amazing colosal
scox.

They said it couldn't happen! They said such evidence couldn't exist! But, now!
here! today! I possess that very evidence in this briefcase.

But why, you ask, has the evidence been hidden for over a year, in spite of two
court orders to produce said evidence. . .

Why, I'll you why, because this evidence is so amazing, so valuable, that scox
has been saving it for the exact right moment.

Get yer $699 Linux licenses while they're hot!! Tomorrow may be too late.

[ Reply to This | # ]

The Missing Code Turns Up in Blepp's Suitcase in Germany. Say, what?
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 10:34 PM EDT
Hmm. I just counted 6.1 Million lines of code in Linux 2.6.
If things keep growing at this rate SCO's 1Million lines
of code won't amount to a significant fraction of the
code in Linux by the time the trial is over. Having
just dropped from 20% to 16% of the code.

Of course this sounds like the code SCO has shown previously
and was traced to SGI and was shown to be of ancient Unix heritage.


[ Reply to This | # ]

From the imagined order of Judge Kimball
Authored by: PeteS on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 10:53 PM EDT
SCO Group has petitioned this court for more time to comply with discovery. In the normal course of events, this court might look favorably on such a request.

In this case, however, SCO Group has stated it can not produce the discovery ordered by this court on the date required, yet an agent of the company has publicly stated he has in his hands the evidence of infringement.

Given this public statement, this court declines the relief SCO Group seeks, on the grounds it has publicly stated it can meet the discovery ordered by this court.

It is so ordered

PS :

PJ could inform you as to the importance of defining a person as an agent of the corporation

---
Today's subliminal thought is:

[ Reply to This | # ]

How big is his briefcase?
Authored by: Night Flyer on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 10:56 PM EDT
Let me see...

1.5 million lines at 55 lines per page equals just over 27,000 pages. Double
sided? 13,500 pages.

When I buy 5,000 pages of copier paper (10 bundles of 500 pages) it is a box I
can carry. Two such boxes is beyond my comfort level. Two and a half, I don't
think so.

If his pages were printed single sided (27,000 pages), I would challenge him to
pick up his briefcase.

[ Reply to This | # ]

The Missing Code?
Authored by: icebarron on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 11:01 PM EDT

I guess in every scam/scheme there has to be a bag man. It seems to me the discussion about how heavy the bag is/was can be considered moot. The code shown to the reporter is just a small amount of what they have waved in public before, except this time they crayoned it up a bit.

As I stated before, there is a day of decision facing them. I would not want to be a member/employee of sco then...or ever...

Dan

Obfuscate? That would mean they actually know how to code...we have not seen any evidence that they do know how to code!

[ Reply to This | # ]

The Missing Code Turns Up in Blepp's Suitcase in Germany. Say, what?
Authored by: grips on Tuesday, April 13 2004 @ 11:27 PM EDT
What is missing in the straight translations is the not quite taking the whole
story serious tone of the german original. It is not written in a manner which
says, well this man tells us something which is important etc., it is more in
the way, well he tells us something but we don't really have to take it as he
said it. See especially the use of adjectives like 'redselig' (talkative in the
blah-blah sense), 'doziert' (to talk down to somebody), and his suit-case
'verspricht' (promises) large amounts.
By the way, I take it that the use of 'Koffer' means not a suit-case, but more a
business case (for files).

Knapp vorbei ist auch daneben.

[ Reply to This | # ]

Red and Blue
Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, April 14 2004 @ 12:12 AM EDT
I'm surprised nobody has commented on the possibility that Blepp's suitcase has copies of IBM's disclosed AIX source marked up.

Now, if I were IBM or its legal team I'd be asking the Court most solemnly to haul Herr Blepp and his suitcase in posthaste to find out how he (an SCO employee) not only got his hands on copies of materials under protective order but was even showing it to reporters.

[ Reply to This | # ]

  • Red and Blue - Authored by: jdg on Wednesday, April 14 2004 @ 12:40 AM EDT
  • Red and Blue - Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, April 14 2004 @ 06:59 AM EDT
1 to 1.5 million
Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, April 14 2004 @ 01:27 AM EDT
If I found someone copying my copyrighted work and if I compared my work to this
other work, I would probably be able to tell something like this:

"There are 1,135,330 lines of code that are either literally copied or
derivative works of my code."

What's the go with half a million lines error margin? MIT rocket scientists
can't count?

[ Reply to This | # ]

The Missing Code Turns Up in Blepp's Suitcase in Germany. Say, what?
Authored by: blacklight on Wednesday, April 14 2004 @ 01:29 AM EDT
"'We asked Microsoft to get involved with us. They refused but relayed us
to an ex-manager who arranged contacts to others with deep pockets.'"
Gregory Blepp

That's one more quote for the code database: we always listen to your enemies,
because there is always a chance that we might learn something new and useful.

Given that the crew of the SCOG submarine can't keep their mouths shut and are
filling the airwaves with their radio chatter, we don't need active sonar to
locate them: passive sonar will do just fine. Once we've got the location of the
SCOG submarine triangulated ...

[ Reply to This | # ]

@PJ: What's happend to the "record errors for posterity here" thread? (here's one, btw.)
Authored by: zapyon on Wednesday, April 14 2004 @ 01:55 AM EDT

"Proof of a million to a million and a half of lines of infringing code, he says."

Are you sure you mean 1 million + 1/2 = 1,000,000.5? ;-)

I guess you meant one and a half million lines, didn't you? (Or is the other version correct, too, in American English? I am not a native speaker aftera ll).

Regards

Andreas

[ Reply to This | # ]

How big a suitcase ...
Authored by: zapyon on Wednesday, April 14 2004 @ 02:36 AM EDT

must it be for paper carrying approx. 1 million lines of code to fit inside? Has anyone calculated this?

Regards

Andreas

[ Reply to This | # ]

Two notes
Authored by: scott_R on Wednesday, April 14 2004 @ 02:47 AM EDT
First, notice how SCO is subtly(?) trying to split the community? Schools don't
want to be sued, nor do nonprofits (at least charities). Expect SCO to come out
with a "noncommercial agreement" soon, and then pound on those very
people to "agree" to not be sued, those agreements being promoted by
SCO as "proof" there is something wrong with Linux.

Second, there are no longer 1 million+ lines of "directly copied" SCO
code, but now they've substituted "affected" in place of that. As
just about any kernel code "affects" everything else on the system,
this is a pretty big brush to paint with, while still sounding like there's an
actual problem.

It's amusing to note that the first page is blank. What's the first page of
code? Comments and headers. The very things they claim are ripped off. Or
perhaps they're implying that the Linux folks intentionally tried to
"hide" the fact that the code was stolen, by making sure any printed
copies would look clean on the first page, because "nobody ever looks past
the cover".

I hope this crud ends before I laugh myself to death. :)

[ Reply to This | # ]

Blepp had the 'proof' already for 5.5 months
Authored by: bonzai on Wednesday, April 14 2004 @ 04:49 AM EDT
Blepp said 2 weeks ago in an interview with COMPUTERWOCHE: "Ich habe die Beweise seit fünf Monaten hier" ('I have the proof here already for 5 months').

In that same article you can read: "Neuer Mann fürs Grobe ist nämlich der einstige Suse-Manager Gregory Blepp, der zwar in München ein Büro hat, aber als Vice President International bei SCOsource in Lindon, Utah, angestellt ist." ('Although Gregory Blepp, a former Suse manager who is the new man to do the dirty work, has an office in Munich, the Vice President International at SCOsource is officially working in Lindon, Utah'). So he is not working for SCO Germany and that's probably why they think they can get away with making these statements in Germany.

BTW, I'm native Dutch, so my German-English translation could be imperfect.

[ Reply to This | # ]

The Missing Code Turns Up in Blepp's Suitcase in Germany. Say, what?
Authored by: muswell100 on Wednesday, April 14 2004 @ 05:51 AM EDT
I've just had a look at the superhuman Herr Blepp's picture on the SuSE web
site:

http://www.suse.com/us/company/press/press_releases/archive02/blepp_burger.html

Apparently, he is able to lift a 'suitcase' containing at least 40 reams of A4
(1,000,000 lines/50 lines per A4), able to mark out each offending line in
felt-tip and to magically produce this evidence one year into the legal
proceedings. In an even more sinister-sounding (if grammatically questionable)
note: 'You don't need to ask questions - He knows them all'. How can he do it?

I have a theory.

Is it me, or if you look at his picture and add dark glasses, does he not bear a
striking resemblence to Agent Smith from the Matrix films? Could they be
related?

I think we should be told.

[ Reply to This | # ]

The Missing Code Turns Up in Blepp's Suitcase in Germany. Say, what?
Authored by: hafnie on Wednesday, April 14 2004 @ 07:03 AM EDT
It make me thinking. IBM has the Unix code and
they also can have the Linux code.

IBM may have run the comparing tools and find
any similarity between Unix and Linux code.

If they really find anything that what SCO
find, they may already settle it outsite the court.

I believe they could find anything similiar and
want to fight it.

---
Linux Forever Free

[ Reply to This | # ]

The Missing Code Turns Up in Blepp's Suitcase in Germany. Say, what?
Authored by: Greebo on Wednesday, April 14 2004 @ 08:28 AM EDT
There's been a lot of talk about 10,000 Euros here, but i think something is being over looked....

10,000 euro's is what SCO were fined last time. The actual Court document says that SCO can be fined upto a maximum of 250,000 Euros, or a term of imprisonment, for each offence.

It's down to the court to decide the level of the fine.

If Blepp is bluffing, and SCO can't produce the Proof to back this up within 30 days to the German court, then i suspect the court will look very unfavourably on SCO GmbH and impose an even bigger fine. I'm hoping for the 250,000 Euro level!!

Greebo

---
-----------------------------------------
Recent Linux Convert and Scared Cat Owner

[ Reply to This | # ]

The Missing Code Turns Up in Blepp's Suitcase in Germany. Say, what?
Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, April 14 2004 @ 08:38 AM EDT
I know PJ, you respect the law.

You have taught me, and others I suspect, partly why the law, and observance of
it, are almost a pre-requisite of a stable and fair society.

However, I cannot help but notice, all sections of society are having to accept
the impact of IT. The law, although it may be thinking about it, seems to think
it can use the same timescales and principles of a century ago. I would suggest
that, although, I accept the careful and detailed consideration of criminal and
general commercial law are not compromised by timescale, IT is.

The American and International law systems cannot cope with the speed of IT.
They risk becoming irrelivent as companies, countries and people decide that
" By the time they do anything about it, its all over anyway. Why
worry?"

Brian S.


[ Reply to This | # ]

Great...Realy great!!!!! I mean realy, realy great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Authored by: NemesisNL on Wednesday, April 14 2004 @ 09:18 AM EDT
SCO settled a case in Germany. One of the demands in that settlement stated SCO
could no longer make statements about copyright infringement in Linux unless
they could show proof within 1 month. Ok... that means they will now have to
show the proof before May 14th in Germany. Finaly we will all see what this case
is about. I think this SCO manager just made a stupendous mistake and SCO is in
real trouble unless there is real proof. The courts in Germany will not be
pleased if they show nothing within the next month and that could get pretty
costly for SCO.

[ Reply to This | # ]

A hint about next monday
Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, April 14 2004 @ 09:36 AM EDT
It seems almost obvious that Blepp has the
lines of code that will be produced next
monday in Utah. Once they are offerred in
that court case, SCO can point to them as
the "proof" they need in Germany. Don't agree?
Go ahead and sue in Germany. SCO won't mind.

(sorry if this "theory" has been broached already;
there are a lot of messages here)

[ Reply to This | # ]

The Missing Code Turns Up in Blepp's Suitcase in Germany. Say, what?
Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, April 14 2004 @ 09:58 AM EDT
"Aus dem Effeff" (aus demm ff) means "without having to
look it up".
It stems from the 'PP' as in etc. pp. meaning "and the
following pages". Who first made the mistake of turning
the P's into F's is unknown.
It was used in the phrase "Etwas aus dem FF rezitieren"
which means cite a whole text after just having seen the
first page of it.
It's closely related to the word "auswendig" - citing a
text from the backside of a paper after having only seen
the front side of that paper.
Ironically this has a strong relation to judicial
scholarship.

There are similar traces of "challenged" litaracy all over
the language. One more Example ist the town Aschaffenburg
which was originally called Aschauenburg...

HTH
Stephan

[ Reply to This | # ]

The Missing Code Turns Up in Blepp's Suitcase in Germany. Say, what?
Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, April 14 2004 @ 10:19 AM EDT
Hey, maybe if SCO gets a ladder they can bring
their suit/case to a higher court!

[ Reply to This | # ]

NEWSFLASH: SCO steals IP... and brags about it!
Authored by: swengr on Wednesday, April 14 2004 @ 06:00 PM EDT
In blatant disregard of copyright laws, SCO(tm) has stolen the Intellectual Property of Groklaw(tm)!

Here on Groklaw(tm), we have seen PJ has several times used Red/Blue Markup(tm) to annotate documents, tables, and listings. Yet SCO(tm) has stolen this technology, and brazenly used it in Germany, as if somehow the IP(tm) protection stopped at the border while waiting for a Visa(tm).

PJ, you must immediately bring suit against Blepp and SCO(tm), in order to protect your valuable IP against further damage and dilution. You must do this immediately in order to mitigate damages. It's obvious that the Red/Blue Markup(tm) methods and technology are worth Billions(tm), and you should so claim in your suit!

Red/Blue Markup(tm) is a trademark of Groklaw(tm). Groklaw(tm) is a trademark of Pamela Jones. SCO(tm) is a trademark of The SCO Group, Inc. Billions(tm) is a trademark of Carl Sagan. IP(tm) is a trademark of Intellectual Property Center Ltd, Kansas. If you think this is Good Humor(tm) you should know that Good Humor(tm) is a trademark of Lipton Investments, Inc. Delaware. "Dry Humor"(tm) on the other hand is a trademark of American Legacy Products, Inc. California, Twisted Humor(tm) was a trademark of Lions Pride Enterprises, Inc. Nevada, and it's 100% true that 100% TRUE(tm) was a trademark of Modern Humorist, Inc. Delaware.

If you think you can Say Anything(tm) without infringing on some trademark, think again! Because Say Anything(tm) was a trademark of Rosenberger Ronald J, in Pennsylvania. But I guess he let it lapse. You could Just say what's on your mind(tm) but that's a (dead) trademark of Multitude, Inc. California. Really, you don't have a prayer, because even What God says(tm) is a trademark of Elder, Eric P in Illinois.

Don't Believe me(tm)? (Philosophy, Inc. Arizona) Just check the USPTO Trademark Database!

---
Gratis is nice, Libre is an inalienable right.

[ Reply to This | # ]

Try putting 1,5 million lines of code on paper into a suitcase
Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, April 14 2004 @ 06:03 PM EDT
We do not know who big the suitcase was. But if it was a
big one, then it is less likely to be on the table, it
would have been on the floor.

They talked about 1,5 Mio pages of source code being
marked for consensus lines between SCO and Linux. With 150
lines of code on one page this would make a 10000 pages
book.

Take a big manual, it is likely to have 1000 pages. Now
try to take 10 of these back home. How many suitcases to
you need?

[ Reply to This | # ]

The old "its in the Suitcase" trick [ Get Smart ]
Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, April 14 2004 @ 07:10 PM EDT
This is a trick so not to have to look the Judge in the eye on the 19th. Better
SCO thinks, it will buy them more time when they will ask the Judge for the time
to put together this "found code"... It will not work !!!...

Fact is SCO has asked the Judge to make IBM come up with so called "unix
code" ( No Success )because they need it for their claim they did not base
on that code...! When you think about it, what was the code claim that formed
the basis of the lawsuit ?.

Only in the movies do you see the person running into the court room with the
"goods" that wins the case in the pinch.

[ Reply to This | # ]

How heavy?
Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, April 14 2004 @ 08:44 PM EDT
I am wondering. A million and a half lines of code printed with red and blue
infringing lines. If you have 66 lines per page and every single line is
infringing and you print them all out to put in your suitcase how many pages? I
count aproximately 22,000 pages. That has got to be one heavy suitcase.
Someone do a sanity check on this for me.

[ Reply to This | # ]

"Koffer" holds 33 reams of paper!!!
Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, April 14 2004 @ 09:54 PM EDT
which is what 1 Million lines, at 60 per page, would
consume. That's a BIG suitecase! He must be a strong
man!

Actually, it hasn't gone unnoticed that McBride hasn't
been his usual mouthy self lately. That court bridle must
certainly chaff. So McBride must have told his German
underling to mouth off a bit... the stock is in desparate
need of pumping!

[ Reply to This | # ]

A serious question for all Groklawyers
Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, April 14 2004 @ 10:23 PM EDT
Good to see people still have their sense of humour...
amazing outpouring of jocular wisdom!

Not to put a damper on things but I have a _serious_ question.

How does the US legal system view a lawsuit where it becomes evident that the
plaintif did not have the evidence to launch their lawsuit in the first place?

I think you call it "fishing for evidence"?
It seems to me that SCO may have planned this this whole fiasco (!) simply to
manipulate their stocks.
Perhaps their plan went something like this:
"We sue IBM for a whole lot of stuff just to get the ball rolling, followup
with a good PR campaign to impress investors that we have a case then simply
request of IBM to hand over their code to AIX, etc, etc. IT will take us so long
to analyze IBM's code that the case will drag on for years, but in the meantime
think of the profits we can make on the wobblings of the stock? and before it is
all over
me and the rest of the gang will simply leave SCO to another
set of directors".

Could it be that this whole situation is a fancy scam?
That there never was the intention of really pursuing code
copying infringements? Is this something that IBM would have to prove or can a
judge unilaterally figure this out and proceed with another case against SCO
maybe through the justice dept in the US??

Sorry about the long question. So here a really short one:
has there ever been another case in US as riduclous as this one?

Thanks.

[ Reply to This | # ]

His Irreverence Pontificates
Authored by: Wesley_Parish on Thursday, April 15 2004 @ 05:55 AM EDT

Several thoughts came to my dreadfully irreverent mind.

Does that suitcase have a timer on it? Is it set to explode in court?

If Blepp is such a muscle-bound character that he can lift a 154-kilo suitcase - presumably in one hand - he could make a lot more money working in a certain industry where muscle-bound males are always in demand, and generally receive adequate compensation for their efforts.

If the suitcase is exploded by remote control and Blepp hustled off to his own private court hearing, do SCO then claim, "We were right all along, Linux is nothing but a [supply your own demon/ess] plot"?

---
finagement: The Vampire's veins and Pacific torturers stretching back through his own season. Well, cutting like a child on one of these states of view, I duck

[ Reply to This | # ]

UPDATE: Blepp's Suitcase in Germany. Say, what?
Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, April 15 2004 @ 11:53 AM EDT
http://trends.newsforge.com/trends/04/04/14/228259.shtml?tid=137&tid=147


At first, SCO Group spokesman Blake Stowell was taken aback by the report.
"This is the first I've heard of this," Stowell said Wednesday
afternoon.

Due to the lateness of the hour in Germany, Stowell was unable to connect with
Blepp, but he later offered an explanation.

"The code that I believe Gregory is referring to has nothing to do with the
SCO vs. IBM case," Stowell told NewsForge late Wednesday.

"The code that Gregory is referring to is some of the same code that SCO
began showing to media, analysts, and other opinion leaders under non-disclosure
during the summer of 2003. This code is one of many examples that the company
has shown in order to prove that there is misappropriated Unix code in
Linux."

[ Reply to This | # ]

A complete translation
Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, April 16 2004 @ 08:53 AM EDT
A German friend of mine (Thank you PinxitJenny!) provided me this, more or less,
complete translation.

*********************************************************

Linux hunter SCO goes all out

US software company SCO claims that the code of the operating system Linux was
in part stolen and demands compensation. If they succeed in court, German unsers
may have to pay as well. It may even be Linux will cease to exist.

"I've got proof here in this case", says Gregory Blepp, vice preident
of SCO and in charge of lincensing. But before he provides this proof, which is
supposed to guarantee millions, even billions, but before opening the case, he
first gives a ninety-minute speech on SCO. Asking questions is unnecessary--he
knows them all by heart.

Blepp recounts how his company came by the rights for the Unix code, why Linux
is a danger for enterprises, the dangers of Open Source in general, why his
company antagonizes the whole world of Linux and that those who're not listening
now will pay later--and quite a lot, too.

The story sounds crazy, is very complicated and has been provoking sharp
reactions fromLinux users worldwide. US magazine "Business Week"
called SCO, the small, 300-people-company from Utah, the "most hated IT
company". Linux inventor Linus Torvalds compared the conpany to a
"cornered rat" which is trying to bite anyone who comes near it.

Code found "by accident"

The short version of the history of SCO: In 1995, Santa Cruz Operation (SCO)
bought the rights for the Unix code from the Novell company. Unix was an
operating system that had originally been developed by AT&T for use in ?big
computers? SCO stated the price as 150 million dollars in shares. As Blepp
states in an interview with "SPIEGEL online", it was noticed "by
accident" that the recent Linux versions contain a code stemming from Unix
and which is by now owned by SCO.

"Around 1,5 million ?lines? of 5 million in the Linux code are taken from
Unix," says Blepp. And SCO wants payment for that: $699 per Linux server
and $199 oer dektop PC - this is his estimate. Private users, school and
Universities will not have to pay, of course - noncommercial use whould remein
free," he says. Larger companies with hundres or thousands of Linux systems
could expect a discount.

There are good reasons for not believing SCO. Unix code could not be copied and
pasted into Linux source texts, as programmers have repeatedly explained. And
the similatities between functions in Unix and Linux need not automatically be
explained by plagiarism and copyright violation.

In addition, there is a strange secretiveness on the side of the management.
Until today, they have not offered proof for the stolen code to the public.
Whoever wants to see the allegedly copied ?lines? of the programme has to sign a
contract that swears him to secrecy. Blepp explains this with the special
strategy lawsuits in the US. "You don't produce the proof right from the
start, but bring it forth gradually."

A lawsuit against IBM has been running for six months. SCO demands at least a
million dollars for use of Unix source codes and its alleged further use by IBM.
The ones who currently profit most from this action are lawyers and surveyers;
there's no end in sight. Hundreds of thousands of papers have been sent back and
forth, without any tangible result.

"They'll bomb us from the courtroom"

And SCO seems to have difficulty providing the proof, which they consider to be
so conclusive and clear, to IBM. On Thursday, the lawyers of the Utah Linux
hunter asked the Delaware court for a deadline extension--again. More times was
needed to hunt down proof, it was said.

SCO vice president Blepp, hoewever, is certain that the contunuing of the
lawsuit alone makes it clear that SCO is right. "Everyone thought the sky
would be black with IBM lawyers, they'll bomb us from the courtroom within
seconds." But the IT ginat had not achieved this so far.

But it was a close thing. For a while, it seemed SCO would run out of money.
Business with their own versions of Unix for intel PCs isn't going well.
Financial losses and the cost for lawyers, says Blepp, had got SCO "into a
tight spot." But then, among others, a former Microsoft manager helped
locate new funds for the stock corporation, ?which is noted in the Nasdaq.? The
Open Source community knew at once: Microsoft supports Linux to get rid of
Linux, which is beginning to become a serious competition.

Blepp waves off such conspirational theories. He doesn't see the help from
Redmond as anything particularly sinister. "We asked Microsoft if they
would support us. They didn't want to, but they sent us the former manager, who
gave us contacts to new financial supporters."

Blepp plans to contact German companies using Linux over the next weeks and
months. "But first, the ?interim order/injunction? against a place of
business in Ghermany has to go." For the German branch of SCO is not
allowed to claim that the Linux code contained sequences from Unix, or face a
10,000 € penalty. "Of course we can prove this," Blepp assures us. But
this hasn't been done for the perviously stated reasons for the lawsuit against
IBM, and the ?interim order/injunction? from June, 2003 had been accepted for
the time being.

German Linux users are to pay

But in four to six weeks, SCO plans to present the code sequences in question
and make the ?interim order/injunction? invalid. Then Blepp finally opens the
case and shows several pages from the Linux code. "?Lines? marked in red
were taken directly from Unix, those marked in blue were adapted for
Linux," he explains. On the first page, there is not a single red ?line?,
but on the next pages, red and blue are predominant. According to Blepp, the
code selection presented is a function for filing data in Linux.

Can this man be believed? Or is SCO nothing but a few cunning bluffers trying to
extract money from insecure companies? In any case, the fate of SCO is firmly
linked to the action for copied ?lines? of code. "If we lose, our company
will be in trouble," says Blepp. "If we win, there are going to be
repercussions on our business--positive ones."

[ Reply to This | # ]

The Missing Code Turns Up in Blepp's Suitcase in Germany. Say, what?
Authored by: Adolf Mathias on Friday, April 16 2004 @ 02:06 PM EDT
Just made a quick estimation. In a larger business case, one might be able to
put around 2000 sheets of A4 or letter size paper, each holding around, let's
say, 120 lines of code, ending up with 240,000 lines.

When I put 6 copies of our local telephone directory, 800 pages, 4 columns of
entries (corresponding to 2 columns of code) and 135 lines per page, into a
business case, I arrive at 1,296,000 lines.

Assuming 30% of the lines are marked, we have a proof that SCO is lying.

[ Reply to This | # ]
Groklaw © Copyright 2003-2013 Pamela Jones.
All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective owners.
Comments are owned by the individual posters.

PJ's articles are licensed under a Creative Commons License. ( Details ) 		Site layout based on Woodlands theme by Bryan Bell.
Groklaw logo by John Crowley.
News Picks logo by Ted Thompson.
Powered By GeekLog
Created this page in 0.07 seconds