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Reports from the Courtroom: Oral Argument at 10th Circuit Court of Appeals - SCO v. Novell - Updated 2Xs |
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Thursday, January 20 2011 @ 05:36 PM EST
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Our reporter at the oral argument in SCO's appeal of its
loss to Novell before the jury and before the judge in Utah District Court today has now filed his reports. It sounds from the reports like it went quite well for Novell, although we can't be sure until the order issues, which could be months.
Would it amaze you if I told you that the report shows that SCO raised an entirely new argument today for the first time? That's a no-no. Well, they are The Amazings. Also, SCO's version of what the 10th Circuit ruling was after its first appeal is ... well, read it for yourself, and you will see why the judges kept correcting SCO today. At the end, SCO's lawyer, Stuart Singer of Boies Schiller, and Novell's, Michael A. Jacobs of Morrison & Foerster, shook hands. I am not a betting person, but if I had to, I'd bet that it was Jacobs who offered his hand first. He's always so genial. Enjoy. I'll add any further details that arrive. And a huge thank you to Clocks, who had to brave snow for us and whose typing fingers are exhausted. He did a wonderful job of capturing the flavor of the day.
Here's the docket entry:
01/20/2011 - Open Document - [9833381] Case argued by Stuart Singer for the Appellant; Michael Jacobs for the Appellee; and submitted to Judges O'Brien, Seymour and Holmes.
And here's Clocks' first report, and one thing to keep in mind as you read it is that appeals are supposed to be only about any mistakes of law, not facts, which are left to the jury, and they already decided SCO didn't get any copyrights, let alone all of them:
Disclaimer: Please understand that I *do not* represent that this is a
transcript by any means, let alone one which would be full and complete.
This is my desperate attempt to take good notes on the content of what was
said as the flow in these proceedings is way too fast to get every word. I
had to sacrifice detail to stay as close to real time as I could and thus
attempt to not miss anything important. My apologies in advance should we
later discover that I have missed something that we are interested in. I did
my best.
As a reminder, the judges on the panel were Sr. Judge Stephanie Seymour,
Judge Terrence O'Brien, and Judge Jerome Holmes.
SCO was represented by Stuart Singer (the speaker) and a burly gentleman I
am still working to identify who helped with prep but did not speak. I
intend to address this in a follow-up email if I can figure out who he is.
Novell was represented by Michael Jacobs but I believe that Sterling Brennan
was also present, however he did not speak. Jacobs also had a very young person
with him (either a new associate or a paralegal I would guess) who helped
him with organization and prep but did not speak. I did not see McBride or
Cahn. There was an older gentleman who appeared shortly before the case was
called but he doesn't match my picture of Cahn and he greeted and then sat
with Novell before saying good morning to Singer. If I can identify him, I
will add that to my other parts to come later.
Another reminder for our audience, the closest geek analog I can come up
with to the appeals hearing is like the IASA CITA-P or Microsoft MCA review
board for a senior architect. You come having presented your information
according to the prompts and studied as many different ways and arguments
as you can think of related to what you want to present and to what your
opponent is likely to present. Despite your best efforts, you have VERY
limited time and the judges are looking to use that time to clarify
positions they have already read from the briefs and get attorney responses
to some of the core legal questions that will help better stake out the
parties' positions. The judges are as much in control of how much time who
spends where through their questioning as are the attorneys who are
presenting. Rather than having a formal present-response-redirect format,
redirect ONLY happens to the extent that the presentation reserves time to
respond.
SCO's Arguments:
SINGER: The court erred as a matter of law in not granting the 50(b) motion
and should be reversed, because without copyrights, the SCO group cannot enforce
the rights acquired in the APA.
JUDGE SEYMOUR: Isn't that an issue of fact?
SINGER: The trial was remanded by this court to determine *which* (emphasis
Singer's) copyrights had transferred to SCO, not whether they had
transferred.
JUDGE O'BRIEN: We have your brief. We are here to see if there is an issue
of law in the ruling of the district court.
[I couldn't scribble down singer's response in time]
JUDGE SEYMOUR: [Raises the issue of what SCO got out of the original APA.]
SINGER: All rights, claims, code, etc. of the SVRX products.
JUDGE SEYMOUR: Except the copyrights. [Some context here. It was a prompt,
not really a question, was put out there as something of a statement.]
SINGER: Correct, before Amendment 2.
JUDGE O'BRIEN: But your rights can be enforced on the content that you own
and on what was transferred for the product independent of what didn't
transfer.
SINGER: Yes, and the agreement was clear that all rights and interest in the
SVRX business, including claims related to the business were to have
transferred.
JUDGE O'BRIEN: But it's not clear at all, because it was reversed by this
court and remanded as ambiguous.
SINGER: It is clear because we can't enforce rights on the core technology of
our product without these rights.
JUDGE O'BRIEN: But how is it different from what IBM or any other UNIX
licensee can do to protect their product? They do not own the copyrights
yet presumably are able to conduct and protect their business.
SINGER: But those are different. Those are licensing agreements rather than
ownership of the technology itself.
JUDGE SEYMOUR: Amendment two says specifically the copyrights which are
required. We don't know what's required for the business.
SINGER: We can't bring actions to protect the core property in our product
without the copyrights.
JUDGE SEYMOUR: You can bring actions based on the added value whereas the
other content could be simply licensed.
SINGER: There is nothing in Amendment 2 that confirms that it is a license
rather than a transfer of intellectual property. There are clauses and
legal language that would be added to the amendment were it intended to
merely provide a license to the intellectual property.
JUDGE SEYMOUR: Pre-amendment 2, the APA says that none of the copyrights
transfer.
SINGER: That's true.
JUDGE SEYMOUR: Amendment 2 makes a vague statement about transfer which we
then found vague in the previous remand, but that's a fact issue as to what
may have be transferred, not a law issue.
SINGER: [Couldn't capture his response fast enough]
JUDGE HOLMES: [Clarified what was remanded for trial, reading bits of the
ruling]
SINGER: Yes, the copyrights should have transferred based on the remand from
the 10th.
JUDGE SEYMOUR: Isn't that a fact question?
SINGER: The district judge should have granted a new trial to address these
issues from the remand.
JUDGE SEYMOUR: Where do we see *as a matter of law* (emphasis Seymour's)
that the copyrights transfer?
SINGER: [Referring to the record] We would present 578 and 1260
[Reads some of Judge McConnell's statement about the requirement for transfer and
whether the APA combined with Amendment 2 satisfies those requirements.]
JUDGE SEYMOUR: Isn't McConnell simply framing your argument in his
discussion to address it? The fact finder on remand could either agree or
disagree about transfer and specifically what was to transfer. He simply
says that he finds that there is a genuine issue of fact to be resolved.
SINGER: McConnell goes beyond a statement that this is arguable to a
statement that something was actually transferred. On the witness stand,
Allison Amadia, the author of amendment 2 admits on cross-examination that
.. [interrupted by Seymour]
JUDGE SEYMOUR: McConnell says that it could be read that way but
immediately goes on to say that it could also not have transferred anything
and that's for the fact finder to determine.
SINGER: If that were so, there would be no change. Why would amendment 2 do
nothing?
JUDGE HOLMES: In order to license your flavor [of UNIX] does SCO have to
have the copyrights?
SINGER: Yes, the underlying copyrights are needed to grant a source code
license. We cant act to protect the underlying software of our product
without the copyrights.
JUDGE HOLMES: Isn't that a separate issue from using your flavor?
SINGER: Our product is built on top of this other IP.
JUDGE HOLMES: But you could engage in business solely with your flavor [of
Unix]?
SINGER: But we couldn't protect our rights in the product or the use of the
source code that makes up certain components of the core property.
JUDGE HOLMES: You couldn't but someone could.
SINGER: Novell is not motivated to do so; it is the buyer. The buyer needs
those rights to protect that property.
JUDGE O'BRIEN: I have a question about 4.16 and the royalties. Are those
rights perpetual or are they time limited?
[Pause of a few seconds before Singer responds.]
SINGER: Yes, they are perpetual. And with little time yet, I would like to
bring up one other issue for the court. The district court erred as a matter
of law in allowing content that was *very* [emphasis Singer's] prejudicial
to SCO by allowing Novell to read the prior decision to the jury.
JUDGE HOLMES: But the judge immediately indicated it was reversed and no
longer correct.
SINGER: You cant un-ring that bell. Even if you say it's not the governing
statement any more, it's there, the finding of a judge, on some of the issues
they are to decide.
JUDGE O'BRIEN: What was the grounds on which the prior decision was
admitted?
SINGER: Novell purported that it was related to our expert testimony on
damages, but it was not related at all. Our damages expert was presenting
on a but-for world which did not address specifically the actions of Novell
or the ruling. It is our position that Novell introduced the issue with the
intent of finding a way to disclose this decision to the jury.
JUDGE SEYMOUR: If the amendment were to be construed in the way that SCO
presents, how many copyrights would transfer? Do you know what they are?
Are they listed somewhere?
SINGER: About 20 copyrights your honor.
JUDGE SEYMOUR: And you claim that all of them would transfer.
SINGER: Yes, there is no distinction in the language of the APA or elsewhere
as to just part of the copyrights transferring. It is our position that they
would all transfer together.
JUDGE SEYMOUR: And we [in the context, it was clear she was referring to
the previous decision of the 10th circuit] took no position on the transfer.
SINGER: We said the ones that are required.
JUDGE SEYMOUR: Which is a fact question.
SINGER: Which is a fact question [repeated Seymour's prompt word for word as
a statement.] I would like to reserve my remaining moment for redirect.
Novell's Arguments:
[During the intervening seconds it took to shuffle attorneys from and to the
podium, I couldn't help but feel that the last interplay between Seymour and
Singer kind of reverberated around the court room, that it was a bad
admission to end on and did not particularly help SCO.]
JACOBS: These are all fact questions where SCO is vastly over-reaching on
the prior decision which reads [quoting from page 35 in the prior decision
from the 10th] "we take no position on which party ultimately owns the UNIX
copyrights or which copyrights were 'required' for Santa Cruz to exercise
its rights under the agreement. Such matters are for the finder of fact on
remand."
JACOBS: The meaning of the contract and APA as amended is a question of
fact. Denying the Rule 50 motion was appropriate as the whole issue was
served to the jury as a fact issue.
JUDGE HOLMES: So your position is "what copyrights are required if any"
versus the view that has been presented of some copyrights are being
transferred? And the fact issue being which ones?
JACOBS: SCO has never interpreted the ruling or the record that way
previously. We need the context of the agreement and the judgment.
McConnell says that the APA as amendment has some vague relationship to
copyrights. In the prior appeal we were arguing that a 204(a) writing
requires something of a higher standard of specificity of transfer but the
ruling was that the agreement related somehow to copyrights which COULD have
transferred something based on the language and we needed to revisit the
facts to find out what that might have been, if anything. The jury heard
testimony from a number of witnesses including the writers of these
agreements which showed painstaking detail and business processes that did
not transfer the copyrights.
JUDGE HOLMES: You don't understand the ruling to be saying that the only
question is what's required?
JACOBS: That's right. We presented witnesses. When they heard Amadia, who
is the writer of Amendment Two say, if I had intended to transfer the
copyrights I would have modified the included assets rather than simply
changing language in the excluded assets. I would have had to go to the
business and make a record of the change in the business intent of the
agreement. Tolonen and the General Counsel of Novell testified that we
would have probably had to go back to the board because our last instruction
from them as shown in the minutes was that they didn't intend to transfer
the copyrights and specifically wanted them excluded.
JUDGE HOLMES: So your position is that the APA Amendment 2 provides a
license to those copyrights and that they are not required to operate the
business?
JACOBS: Yes.
JUDGE HOLMES: And SCO could license to customers like any other vendor who
uses UNIX?
JACOBS: Yes, like the hundreds of other vendors who sell their products.
JUDGE HOLMES: Their added value.
JACOBS: Correct. And all of this was explained to the jury.
JUDGE O'BRIEN: How would you respond to the proposition that without the
copyrights they couldn't enforce their source rights.
JACOBS: SCO could enforce their rights on the added value. The prior
decision by Judge Kimble was exactly that, that they could license UnixWare
as their substantial product and incidentally these small bits of source
code left over from the base that they built on top of. He found that SCO
was seeking to enforce these rights on the added value parts in addition to
SVRX separately.
JUDGE O'BRIEN: What would be Novell's right to continue collecting the
royalties under the APA if SCO were to own the copyrights?
JACOBS: That's exactly the point. Under the APA, Novell gets 95% of the
royalties. SCO? 5%. If Novell wants to continue to benefit from the
relationship and the technology, Novell needs those IP rights to be able to
sue. Novell wanted to retain that revenue stream which was substantial at
the time and thus Novell wanted to retain the copyrights to protect it.
JUDGE HOLMES: Does 4.16 allow Novell rights of waiver on claims or actions
related to the UnixWare product?
JACOBS: No. There's never been any challenge from Novell about SCO's ability
to enforce UnixWare. [Pauses and kind of transitions.]
JACOBS: Under California's parole evidence rule, the contract says what it
says and all of these other bits of context have to be disregarded. SCO
never said this is inconsistent with the prior decision during the trial.
SCO didn't argue this at all in this appeal.
JUDGE HOLMES: What about the language in the APA that grants the rights to
pursue legal claims? Why does that agreement not stop them from having
rights to protect their product?
JACOBS: SCO asserted that they have to have these rights to protect a vague
phrase of "their technology" which they include SVRX. But the APA dissects
that to two separate entities, Unixware and SVRX. Novell had no claims
against other parties at the time of the contract to transfer to SCO related
to SVRX. Our view of the record is that SCO brought new claims against
other companies based on a theory of "we acquired the business" and these
are not inherited claims that were transferred by the APA. This further has
to be read in the context of not being given the right to enter into new
SVRX relationships without Novell's approval and involvement. If they owned
the IP, one of the rights to ownership is the right to license, which SCO
did not have.
JUDGE HOLMES: [Can't read my notes for this response.]
JACOBS: And when SCO originally sued Novell, they included claims of breach
of copyrights. If the agreement were to automatically transfer those claims
perpetually to SCO, that would mean that by transitive property that SCO
sued itself. And that can't be right. The law says that if it's a 50-50
split and the finder of fact can't figure out if something transferred, then
the tie goes to Novell.
JACOBS: If I could I would like to take a minute to address...
JUDGE O'BRIEN: You are out of time.
[Light chuckle throughout the court room.]
[Transition between attorneys.]
SINGER: I think I have a minute or so left.
JUDGE O'BRIEN: You have 19 seconds.
SINGER: The clear issue here is which copyrights were transferred not
whether there was a transfer but which ones transferred. Further, the APA
included claims related to the business and SCO was involved in actions
against Microsoft and Linux which is why the copyrights are required to be
able to continue those actions which were transferred as related to the
business.
[Judges thanked attorneys, all rise, recess.]
[Handshake between Singer and Jacobs.] And here's part two:
The Stuff that Bears Repeating
If you will recall from my writing last time, I really came away thinking
the oral argument was a mixed bag and the judges were asking questions that
seemed to take some of SCO’s position as a basis to reach the points being
argued. In this context I really was not surprised when the order to remand
came back.
This time was a completely different feel. As you can see in my notes,
Singer hardly got a full sentence out of his mouth when he was being asked
about presentation of the facts versus a clear error in the law as the basis
for appeal. I really got the feeling that Seymour in particular was
skeptical of the basis for the appeal as it came back over and over and over
again to issues of fact versus issues of law and I really don’t think Singer
ever truly connected in a satisfactory manner with this request.
It also bears repeating that it really did feel like something of a heavy
silence in the transition between Singer and Jacobs after Singer parroted
Seymour’s assertion/prompt that what's required to transfer is an issue of
fact. Given the context that appeals courts do not deal with facts and they
are primarily the province of courts of first instance, it seemed like a bad
final statement and a nice juicy subject for Jacobs to step into – which he
did with the first words out of his mouth asserting exactly that view.
I thought Jacobs’ later transition into the land of the parole evidence rule
was odd and hard to follow. I can’t help looking back wondering if I missed
something there because it didn’t really flow there and it seemed to me to
be arguing something that really didn’t help his case – e.g. still arguing the
204(a) issue of the past and whether outside views had a bearing on the
interpretation of the APA with Amendments.
Jacobs again ran out of time and lost the ability to make one of his
arguments thereby, however the questioning of Singer was so intense that
despite his express intent to reserve time for redirect to the panel, he had
mere seconds to go when he stepped back up to the podium.
I came away thinking that Singer really didn’t solidly connect with any of
his points and I also noticed that he was far more intensely questioned than
was Jacobs, with Jacobs being given long uninterrupted segments of time to
present his position by comparison. The questions that
were asked of him also didn’t seem to question his argument but rather
prompted his position on other aspects of opposing counsel’s presentation.
Singer did well but did not really have much of anything on his side. The
panel clearly had trouble getting to the merits of his arguments over the
lack of issues of law versus the presented arguments on fact.
The Players
Judge Terrence O'Brien was a past president of Visionary Communications, from 2000
to 2001.
Before that, he was a district judge in the Sixth Judicial District Court of Wyoming for twenty
years, from 1980 to 2000. He was in private practice from 1974 to 1980, and before that served in the US Justice Department for two years.
Senior Judge Stephanie K. Seymour has been with the Tenth Circuit since 1979, and she served as Chief Judge. Prior to her appointment, she was in private practice. She has a good reputation in Denver legal circles
according to a colleague of mine locally, an employment attorney who has
been before the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals several times.
Judge Jerome A. Holmes is a relative newcomer, appointed to the court in 2006. He was commissioned to replace the seat vacated by Judge Seymour when
she was moved to a Senior Judgeship on the circuit. Interestingly, he clerked for another of the 10th Circuit judges, Judge William Holloway from 1990-1991.
I had an opportunity to observe the judges for a bit as they heard oral argument in the cases that were heard today prior to SCO v. Novell. Judge O’Brien was fairly
quiet most of the time
and relaxed.
Interestingly enough Judge O'Brien led most of the administrative progression
including opening, closing, timekeeping, and the like.
Seymour was reasonably active and to me seemed to come into each case with
just a few bullets she wanted to understand and she was very focused
in re-introducing her topics in the context of the present argument. You
actually see this illustrated in the SCO argument as the issues-of-fact vs
issues-of-law discussion comes up again and again from her.
Holmes was by far the most active in the earlier cases. As a relatively
young judge, he seemed to me very sharp and interested. His questions
always had a demonstrable intent. He was very good at eliciting argument on the
subjects that he was looking for. He came across to me as the kind of guy I
would love to sit down with and break bread and get to know a little bit
more. Intelligent, well-mannered, yet sharp and direct when he wanted to be,
able to ask the *same* question to each side yet in the way that challenged
the position of that attorney, and he was clearly educated on the subjects before the
court, often referencing without looking at a page or bit of testimony from a
brief. All in all, it was Judge Holmes who impressed me most, exactly what I
would want a judge to be.
Setting the Stage
The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals building.
Partial view of the Courtroom.
Another view that you would see if you were sitting where Judge Holmes was today.
The elegant courthouse that provides residence for the 10th circuit always
reminds me of Monticello.
The courtroom for this oral argument is Courtroom IV which is, I hear, actually
fairly infrequently used as it is very small and somewhat inconvenient to
access. Due to its original planned use as a shared library, Courtroom IV
is actually a converted room on the second floor, accessed by either the
retrofit federal issue bland elevators or a beautiful wrought iron and
marble circular staircase located in an alcove recessed into the external
wall at each end of the main entry hall.
This stair brings you out on a full-building-length hall which compared to
the one below rivaling many cathedral naves, asserts a muted presence with a
plantation-type design lined with oil painting portraits of judges from the
circuit past and present. At almost exactly half way down on the inside
wall is a small double doorway into a one-time law library that resides just
above the clerk’s desk below.
Despite its two-story height, the room is the smallest of the primary 4
courtrooms with just 2 full-length pews on each side and 2 partials behind
them before the Bar and the area beyond. The front and rear walls are
curved, and each of the vertical surfaces in the first floor remains
festooned with shelves of the Federal Register, a functional – if not
elegant – décor which complements the surrounding rich dark paneling.
A railing lines the wall just above the height of the first story of the
room with ornate supports and railing bars in the front and back of the
room, with very simple railings to either side that allow in the natural
light from the three evenly spaced windows on the second story of each side
wall. The railing itself easily recalls to mind a vision of the rolling
ladder that was probably once nearly permanently propped against its surface
to reach the taller shelves.
A new Groklaw member has posted his report in a comment, and while I can't vouch for him as yet, since he or she is new to us, the account is close enough to Clock's that I decided to post it here, so you can get still more details:Since I was in Federal Court earlier that morning, I was able to walk over to
the 10th Circuit for oral argument.
The Panel was Senior Judge Seymour, Judge Terrence O'Brien and Judge Jerome
Holmes.
Judge O'Brien appeared to be the Presiding Judge of the panel.
I had arrived for the 9AM start of the panel's oral argument calendar. The
first three arguments on the calendar were criminal appeals. I only mention
this because it gave me a chance to watch the panel as it heard argument.
During the three earlier arguments, Senior Judge Seymour and Judge O'Brien would
make few comments or questions, and their comments or questions seemed to
indicate pretty clearly their thinking on the appeal in front of them. (With
the caveat that you can't necessarily rely upon those impressions at oral
argument). Judge Holmes was by far the most aggressive questioner of the panel
on the earlier arguments. Further, it would ask pointed, barbed questions of
both sides of each panel and never gave me a clue which side of each appeal had
his favor during oral argument. All of the panel were courteous to the counsel
arguing before them, gave nearly all a comfortable amount of time after time was
technically expired and were the kind of polite judges I enjoy appearing in
front of myself.
That said, when SCO v. Novell was called, after putting his appearance for SCO
Group on the record, Stuart Singer started to make an opening argument that I
could not clearly hear, when Judge O'Brien rebuked him in the middle of his
opening sentence. I missed exactly what he was being rebuked for saying, but
Judge O'Brien sharply told him not to pursue it. Throughout Singer's time,
Judge Seymour kept reducing his arguments to being of an argument about a
factual dispute, versus a legal issue, and getting him to concede such. Judge
Seymour seemed to be telegraphing that she saw no legal issue per se in SCO's
appeal.
Stuart tried to claim that the triable issue at trial was solely exactly what
copyrights were “required” to operate the UNIX business, that the previous 10th
Circuit opinion stated that the trial was only about that and that there was no
evidence at trial that separated out individual copyrights – therefore SCO was
entitled to them all. The panel queried him sharply on each of the prongs of
his argument. Singer's quotation of the opinion in support of his claim that
that was the 10th Circuit's previous holding was disputed by Judge Seymour who
appeared to not appreciate how Singer was quoting the case. She quoted from the
opinion pointing out that what Singer had cited was in fact the previous panel
characterizing SCO's argument. This did not seem to endear Singer to her if not
the rest of the panel.
Singer's argument that all of the copyrights were required for operating the
UNIX business depended on his skipping to “defending” the IP as essential to the
operating the business. The panel challenged that argument as well. Both Judge
Seymour and Judge Holmes got Singer to admit that SCO could sue for infringement
of the code that SCO added to SVRX. Judge Holmes specifically got Singer to
admit that SCO's “flavor” of Unix was licensable with the rights they had
obtained without owning the copyrights themselves.
Novell's Michael Jacobs got a far friendlier reception by the panel even
including Judge Holmes. He made the point that SCO's argument depended on
“overreaching” of the earlier panel decision and that SCO had not attempted to
limit the trial to just what copyrights were “required” to operate the business
but had opened up the entire trial to whether or not copyrights in total were
transferred. Jacobs also reinforced Judge Seymour's concerns with how Singer
was quoting the earlier decision, pointing out that the sections he quoted were
really in context of the earlier decision discussion of whether or not the APA
met the requirements of section 204a of the Copyright Act (a writing being
required to transfer – the Copyright Act's version of the statute of frauds ).
Jacobs reinforced the panel's own observations about the SCO's issues being
reduced to factual disputes – again with the inference that such were not
properly appellate issues.
Somewhere, a reference to the APA referring to the transfer of “seller's legal
claims” popped up ( I missed where), Jacobs pointed out that SCO had amended its
complaint to allege that Novell itself had infringed SCO's copyright and that
such an act was inconsistent with relying upon the assertion that the APA had
transferred Novell's “legal claims” since it had no claim of infringement
against itself.
Overall, the entire panel seemed very well prepared for the argument and seemed
to very clearly understand the distinction between UNIXWARE and SVRX and would
challenge Singer when he conflated them. Judge Holmes was less active in
proportion to his contributions in earlier arguments with Judge Seymour
questioning more in proportion to her earlier contributions of the day. Coming
out of the argument, Michael Jacobs was in a good mood and Stuart Singer was
less pleased. Jacobs is always in a good mood, though, through thick and thin. That's my favorite thing about him. Update:
I heard from Clocks. It was indeed Jacobs who took the initiative to shake hands. Can I call it or can I call it? And we have yet a third report, this one from Groklaw member charlie_Turner, and he fills in still more details:
I arrived at 8:30 and took a seat to the far left side in the second pew from the front. As has been mentioned, this courtroom is small. Two full-sized pews with tight seating for 6 on each side, one half-sized pew on each side with seating for 3 or maybe 4, and one quarter-sized pew with seating for 2, or maybe 3 if they were really small. That was it for seating. Compared to the last time I attended a court hearing in the SCO saga (June 15th back in Delaware), things moved along very fast here. Too fast, in fact, for me to keep up very well. Since the first two reports are done so well, and so much better than my notes would allow me to, I will only add what little I can where I can.
Regarding the rebuke to Mr. Singer on the opening sentence, I also did not hear exactly what Mr. Singer said, but my notes have Judge O'Brien saying: “We have your brief. Don't repeat it.” I also have a note of Judge O'Brien saying “Unless you have contrary evidence” with an arrow pointing to the previous comment, but I can't now remember in what order these words were said.
When Judge Seymour quoted from the previous panel's opinion after Mr. Singer had quoted from it, she took no time at all to pick up the opinion and read from the relevant section, almost as if she had it open there anticipating the situation. All three judges seemed very much up-to-speed on this case and had a good working knowledge of what was involved. Judge O'Brien had been quiet most of the morning, with one exception that I'll get to later. He became very active during this appeal. As has been noted, his questions also lead me to think that he was not very receptive to to Mr. Singer's argument.
Regarding Judge Holmes with his questions: As he interrupted and questioned the first lawyer in each of the first three appeals, the cases that went before SCO's, my feelings were that he had just totally destroyed their position and they were done for, but then he would do the same to the other side, too. As an example in the third appeal heard today, US v Searles, at one point during the Searles' lawyer's argument, Judge Holmes interrupted, and said:
“If you prevail, the only relief your client will receive will be a re-sentencing, correct? L-o-n-g silence:
“Yes”. Judge Holmes continues: There is language in your brief relating to conviction. Are you asking for us to vacate the conviction? You haven't argued that. With some fumbling around, the lawyer said No, he wasn't asking for that.
Then, at one point to the US Attorney, Judge Holmes says: Do you have specific language in you brief preventing relief from conviction? US Attorney: “Well, in footnote #3” Judge Holmes interrupts: “I'm not talking about footnote #3. In your brief, do you have language preventing relief from conviction?
Another L-O-N-G silence. No. Judge Holmes points out that if they find for Searles, he walks. To my untrained ears and mind, both lawyers got dope slapped with a clue-by-4 in that appeal, and Judge Holmes never raised his voice while doing it.
Appeal #1, US v Harrison, offered the only comment by Judge O'Brien that I have noted before SCO v Novell. This case appears to involve a Mr. Harrison, who is alleged to be dealing drugs, according to a tip to police. They stake out his home for 2 months, and observe nothing. In an apparent attempt to gain entry for a search without any other probable cause, the police send an officer to his door saying they have received a tip that there is a bomb in his home. They have no reason whatsoever. This is a fabricated ruse, apparently. His response was, If there's a bomb here, yes, I want to know about it. They search the home and don't find a bomb, but they do find drugs. Harrison's lawyer wants the conviction tossed because Harrison was coerced into allowing the search, via the fake bomb report.
The US attorney attempted to argue that there was no coercion, any reasonable person would have allowed the search. At one point, Judge O'Brien said that if the defendant had been a lawyer, he would have said: ”Are you trying to blow smoke up my ass?”
My overall impression was that these judges do not suffer baloney salesmen, not even for one slice.
As has been noted, Mr. Jacobs received a far friendlier reception than Mr. Singer, in fact maybe more so than any other lawyer I saw appear today.
Well. I can't believe it's an appellate court judge violating Groklaw's comments policy.
And we came up with it in part so judges wouldn't be shocked by geek humor if they stopped by for a visit. Hmm. Is this the judge from Wyoming? The Wild and Wooly West really is wild and wooly, I guess, just like they told us.
: D
PS No. You can't. The policy stands, with exceptions for judges. It occurs to me that some of you may be new, so here's the notorious Amendment 2 and the 1995 Asset Purchase Agreement [PDF] they were talking about today.
Update 2: cpeterson left a comment of real value, and bugstomper added the links for us, so here it is: We see Mr. Singer telling the appeals court,
The trial was remanded by this court to determine which copyrights had transferred to SCO, not whether they had transferred.
But - is that what SCO told the District Court? No. From SCO's first Proposed Jury Verdict (docket #741 [PDF]):
Did SCO acquire ownership of some or all of the Unix and UnixWare copyrights through the amended APA? Yes___ No___
Then, during the course of the trial, SCO produced their revised Proposed Jury Verdict (docket #811 [PDF]):
Does SCO own the UNIX and UnixWare copyrights? Yes___ No___
The final version of the Jury Verdict contained the question in this form:(docket #846 [PDF]):
Did the amended Asset Purchase Agreement transfer the Unix and UnixWare copyrights from Novell to SCO? Yes___ No___
Did SCO object to the question being in that form? During the charging / jury instruction conference (docket #886 [text]), Mr. Normand was asked about that. He responded:
Your Honor, we're fine with the verdict form as it is.
It doesn't matter whether it's a matter of fact or law - if the wrong question was asked, that's just too bad - because it was SCO that put the question that way.
|
|
Authored by: grouch on Thursday, January 20 2011 @ 05:42 PM EST |
Corrections here, please.
---
-- grouch
GNU/Linux obeys you.
[ Reply to This | # ]
|
- Formatting, paragraph break between "jury." and "JUDGE SEYMOUR:" - Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, January 20 2011 @ 11:13 PM EST
- Clocks'first -- Clocks' first - Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, January 21 2011 @ 02:18 AM EST
- judge Kimble -- Kimball? - Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, January 21 2011 @ 02:59 AM EST
- should "you" be "your"? - Authored by: IANALitj on Friday, January 21 2011 @ 10:57 AM EST
- several instances of parole instead of parol - Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, January 21 2011 @ 02:26 PM EST
- Amendment -> Amended - Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, January 21 2011 @ 02:59 PM EST
- O'Brien's phrase - Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, January 21 2011 @ 03:15 PM EST
- O'Brien's phrase - Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, January 21 2011 @ 10:58 PM EST
- Worse, Actually - Authored by: Anonymous on Saturday, January 22 2011 @ 12:40 AM EST
- Updated but Title not updated - n/t - Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, January 21 2011 @ 03:39 PM EST
- CLOCKS: A question re Singer's words .... - Authored by: dmarker on Sunday, January 23 2011 @ 09:13 PM EST
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Authored by: perpetualLurker on Thursday, January 20 2011 @ 05:48 PM EST |
For anyone working on the Comes documentation conversion,
please leave updates here please...
Thank you! .....pL........
---
"Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra and then suddenly it flips over,
pinning you underneath. At night, the ice weasels come." -- Matt Groening[ Reply to This | # ]
|
- COMES 0717 - Authored by: bugstomper on Thursday, January 20 2011 @ 07:10 PM EST
- COMES 1423 - Authored by: bugstomper on Thursday, January 20 2011 @ 07:41 PM EST
- COMES 2099 - added HTML to plain text posted by Anonymous on 26 Dec - Authored by: bugstomper on Thursday, January 20 2011 @ 09:53 PM EST
- COMES 1491 - Authored by: bugstomper on Friday, January 21 2011 @ 06:44 AM EST
- COMES 1512 - Authored by: bugstomper on Friday, January 21 2011 @ 08:01 AM EST
- Comes 9540 - Authored by: kattemann on Friday, January 21 2011 @ 09:20 AM EST
- COMES 1511 - Authored by: bugstomper on Friday, January 21 2011 @ 04:50 PM EST
- COMES 1514 - Authored by: bugstomper on Friday, January 21 2011 @ 05:42 PM EST
- COMES 1559 - Authored by: bugstomper on Saturday, January 22 2011 @ 03:57 PM EST
- COMES 1567 (unpdates, develope [sic] in original) - Authored by: bugstomper on Saturday, January 22 2011 @ 04:48 PM EST
- COMES 1576 - Authored by: bugstomper on Saturday, January 22 2011 @ 05:05 PM EST
- COMES 1642 - Authored by: bugstomper on Sunday, January 23 2011 @ 12:41 AM EST
- COMES 9526 - Authored by: kattemann on Sunday, January 23 2011 @ 05:20 AM EST
- COMES 1675 - Authored by: bugstomper on Sunday, January 23 2011 @ 05:38 AM EST
- COMES 1605 - Authored by: kattemann on Sunday, January 23 2011 @ 06:22 AM EST
- COMES 9407 - Authored by: kattemann on Sunday, January 23 2011 @ 11:46 AM EST
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Authored by: perpetualLurker on Thursday, January 20 2011 @ 05:49 PM EST |
Anything ON-topic will be ignored!
Thank you! .......pL........
---
"Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra and then suddenly it flips over,
pinning you underneath. At night, the ice weasels come." -- Matt Groening[ Reply to This | # ]
|
- Market Summary for NOVL for 1-20-2011 - Authored by: dacii on Thursday, January 20 2011 @ 06:03 PM EST
- Seriously off topic - Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, January 20 2011 @ 07:19 PM EST
- ACTA: Lawyers on it's conflicts with EU Law. + they call for signatures - Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, January 21 2011 @ 02:24 AM EST
- FM claims new evidence supports Oracle against Google - Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, January 21 2011 @ 05:00 AM EST
- eWeek: Patent evidence grows against Google's Android - Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, January 21 2011 @ 08:43 AM EST
- Brian Proffitt: Research seems to point to Google infringement of Java code - Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, January 21 2011 @ 10:18 AM EST
- Forget ‘Star Trek.’ Antimatter found near thunderstorms - Authored by: JamesK on Friday, January 21 2011 @ 12:10 PM EST
- Hubble zooms in on mysterious green space blob - Authored by: JamesK on Friday, January 21 2011 @ 12:15 PM EST
- Is RIAA planning on suing ICANN? - Authored by: SpaceLifeForm on Friday, January 21 2011 @ 03:13 PM EST
- It might be funny ... - Authored by: nsomos on Friday, January 21 2011 @ 04:37 PM EST
- Ars: New Alleged Andriod Infringement 'Not a Smoking Gun' - Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, January 21 2011 @ 05:12 PM EST
- Creative Commons and the App Store - Authored by: JScarry on Friday, January 21 2011 @ 06:39 PM EST
- Oracle vs Google - Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, January 21 2011 @ 08:11 PM EST
- Market Summary for NOVL 1-21-2011 - Authored by: dacii on Friday, January 21 2011 @ 10:06 PM EST
- Latest Mandriva - Authored by: tiger99 on Saturday, January 22 2011 @ 05:53 AM EST
- Latest Mandriva - Authored by: Anonymous on Saturday, January 22 2011 @ 05:54 PM EST
- Unasked and unanticipated Google searches - Authored by: Anonymous on Saturday, January 22 2011 @ 02:29 PM EST
- DDOS attack on Groklaw? - Authored by: tiger99 on Saturday, January 22 2011 @ 03:02 PM EST
- look at florian go! - Authored by: designerfx on Saturday, January 22 2011 @ 03:36 PM EST
- New alleged evidence of Android infringement isn't a smoking gun - Authored by: Bystander on Saturday, January 22 2011 @ 07:42 PM EST
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Authored by: perpetualLurker on Thursday, January 20 2011 @ 05:51 PM EST |
Please include a LINK to the news pick since it might not
still be on the page.
Thank you! ....pL......
---
"Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra and then suddenly it flips over,
pinning you underneath. At night, the ice weasels come." -- Matt Groening[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: perpetualLurker on Thursday, January 20 2011 @ 05:58 PM EST |
*Great* *Job* Clocks!
I truly do appreciate all the effort and time that this took
and I wanted to say *thank* *you* for all of this work.
.....pL........
---
"Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra and then suddenly it flips over,
pinning you underneath. At night, the ice weasels come." -- Matt Groening[ Reply to This | # ]
|
- Kudos for Clocks go here! (-; (-: - Authored by: GreenDuck on Thursday, January 20 2011 @ 06:09 PM EST
- Kudos for Clocks go here! (-; (-: - Authored by: tce on Thursday, January 20 2011 @ 06:16 PM EST
- Amen (n/t) - Authored by: tuxi on Thursday, January 20 2011 @ 06:39 PM EST
- Seconded, thirded or fourthed..... - Authored by: tiger99 on Thursday, January 20 2011 @ 06:26 PM EST
- thanks Clocks - Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, January 20 2011 @ 06:41 PM EST
- Kudos for Clocks go here! (-; (-: - Authored by: grouch on Thursday, January 20 2011 @ 06:41 PM EST
- Kudos for Clocks go here! (-; (-: - Authored by: PolR on Thursday, January 20 2011 @ 07:39 PM EST
- Kudos for Clocks go here! (-; (-: - Authored by: SPQR on Thursday, January 20 2011 @ 08:46 PM EST
- Thank you to CLocks, and to the second reporter. - Authored by: RPN on Thursday, January 20 2011 @ 08:54 PM EST
- Kudos for Clocks go here! (-; (-: - Authored by: cjk fossman on Thursday, January 20 2011 @ 09:15 PM EST
- Thank you both - Authored by: chrisbrown on Thursday, January 20 2011 @ 09:42 PM EST
- Kudos for Clocks go here! (-; (-: - Authored by: red floyd on Thursday, January 20 2011 @ 10:12 PM EST
- Mucho Gracias for the building description... - Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, January 21 2011 @ 12:11 AM EST
- Kudos for Clocks go here! (-; (-: - Authored by: elronxenu on Friday, January 21 2011 @ 12:54 AM EST
- Thanks to all three attendees - Authored by: The Mad Hatter r on Friday, January 21 2011 @ 01:06 AM EST
- Kudos for Clocks go here! (-; (-: - Authored by: Ian Al on Friday, January 21 2011 @ 04:40 AM EST
- ..and Kudos for all - Authored by: NigelWhitley on Friday, January 21 2011 @ 06:59 AM EST
- Thanks Clocks, SPQR, and Mr. Turner - Authored by: om1er on Friday, January 21 2011 @ 08:07 AM EST
- Thanks to all the reporters - Authored by: snakebitehurts on Friday, January 21 2011 @ 07:35 PM EST
- Kudos for putting things on record for years (decades, eons...) to come - Authored by: clemenstimpler on Friday, January 21 2011 @ 08:14 PM EST
- Kudos for Clocks go here! (-; (-: - Authored by: Anonymous on Saturday, January 22 2011 @ 05:16 PM EST
- On behalf of all Anonymouses! (-; (-: - Authored by: Anonymous on Sunday, January 23 2011 @ 01:16 PM EST
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Authored by: nsomos on Thursday, January 20 2011 @ 05:58 PM EST |
I still think it is a pity, that Novell withdrew the
appeal to SCOTUS. It would have clarified the whole
mess and not permitted SCOG to dance around as much
as they have.
To Singer who harps on, not if copyrights transferred,
but which ones did, I would suggest the appropriate
response is the empty set. And SCOG can have those
with specificity and in writing.[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: Steve Martin on Thursday, January 20 2011 @ 06:06 PM EST |
Thanks for braving the elements, taking the time, and working your note-taking
fingers to the bone. It's greatly appreciated.
---
"When I say something, I put my name next to it." -- Isaac Jaffe, "Sports Night"[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, January 20 2011 @ 06:11 PM EST |
... but tap-dancing.
And it looks like the judges have pretty good tap-dance detectors. They can see
right through it.
Where does it go from here? Can the Appeals Court just say "We've heard
you, and you've got nothing. Appeal denied"? Or do they have to do a
formal judgment?
MSS2[ Reply to This | # ]
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- Looks like Singer has nothing... - Authored by: rsteinmetz70112 on Thursday, January 20 2011 @ 06:17 PM EST
- Looks like Singer has nothing... - Authored by: ChrisP on Thursday, January 20 2011 @ 06:23 PM EST
- Looks like Singer has nothing... - Authored by: darrellb on Thursday, January 20 2011 @ 06:43 PM EST
- Looks like Singer has nothing... - Authored by: Yossarian on Thursday, January 20 2011 @ 06:49 PM EST
- Looks like Singer has nothing... - Authored by: wvhillbilly on Friday, January 21 2011 @ 12:54 AM EST
- Nowhere to go? - Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, January 21 2011 @ 03:15 PM EST
- Mmm, crispy goose! - Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, January 21 2011 @ 04:34 PM EST
- Looks like Singer has nothing... - Authored by: elronxenu on Friday, January 21 2011 @ 12:57 AM EST
- Looks like Singer has nothing... - Authored by: JamesK on Friday, January 21 2011 @ 08:07 AM EST
- Looks like Singer has nothing... - Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, January 21 2011 @ 10:17 AM EST
- He had nothing on Day One! - Authored by: tiger99 on Friday, January 21 2011 @ 01:54 PM EST
- Look, your Honors... - Authored by: Anonymous on Saturday, January 22 2011 @ 07:38 PM EST
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Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, January 20 2011 @ 06:31 PM EST |
>"that was *very* [emphasis Singer's] prejudicial to SCO by
>allowing Novell to read the prior decision to the jury."
I suspect that after a couple of days of the jury trial SCO's
lawyers could smell a defeat. From that time they wanted to
cause the trial judge to make some decision that can be used
in appeal. The judge was good enough not to make such a
decision. He wanted to skip the previous judge verdict, but
SCO forced his hand by telling the jury what he had told SCO
"don't tell". The judge tried to play fair, for both
sides, and SCO got what it wanted - grounds for appeal.
My Guess is that the appeal court is smart enough to figure
that much and will decide not to reward such dirty play.[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: Guil Rarey on Thursday, January 20 2011 @ 06:47 PM EST |
Round 1: Amendment 2 created sufficient ambiguity that it requires fact-finding
(jury trial) to resolve (under their breath, "we think it's a load of
nonsense but it's not our job to say that....")
Round 2: We've had the jury trial. The facts have been found. And? (Under
their breath, "Will you please just go away and be quiet..."
Note Round 1 is the good version. Unless someone finds a way to declare that
some of the other nonsense in that opinion is non-binding dicta, not holding, we
could be in a world of hurt.
---
If the only way you can value something is with money, you have no idea what
it's worth. If you try to make money by making money, you won't. You might con
so[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: MrCharon on Thursday, January 20 2011 @ 07:14 PM EST |
Does anyone else get the feeling from reading the notes that the Judges did some
research? By referece to IBM having a licenseing buisness and calling it SCO
"flavor" of Unix.
This may have been in the appeal breif, I've not read it in a long time, but I
don't ever remember either side using the term "Flavor".
---
MrCharon
~~~~
[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, January 20 2011 @ 07:19 PM EST |
We're all indignant that Singer is trying to reargue facts, when the appeals
court doesn't hear facts, new or old.
But would Singer be liable for malpractice if he doesn't try to reargue facts?
Does he owe that to his client?
My question is, are lawyers forced to abuse rules of procedure in order to avoid
a malpractice suit from a client?
[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, January 20 2011 @ 08:01 PM EST |
"JUDGE O'BRIEN: But it's not clear at all, because it was reversed by this
court and remanded as ambiguous."
Love that one!
The only thing that would have made it better would be one of the judges saying
"Is that all you've got?"
[ Reply to This | # ]
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- Quote - Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, January 20 2011 @ 08:33 PM EST
- Wheeee! - Authored by: red floyd on Thursday, January 20 2011 @ 10:15 PM EST
- That was one of my favorites.... - Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, January 21 2011 @ 12:43 AM EST
- Wheeee! - Authored by: elronxenu on Friday, January 21 2011 @ 01:04 AM EST
- Wheeee! - Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, January 21 2011 @ 05:06 AM EST
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Authored by: SPQR on Thursday, January 20 2011 @ 08:39 PM EST |
PJ was kind enough to copy my comments above. I'm not a "new" member
per se, as I've visited here a lot over the years and commented via anon but
never had a formal login until this afternoon so appearing new to all.
After spending 15 years in software development, primarily in Unix systems, I
changed careers in the mid '90's to the practice of law. I practice in Colorado
state and Federal courts currently. I've spoken at Colorado Bar Continuing
Legal Education on the topic of Open Source.[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, January 20 2011 @ 09:16 PM EST |
I can understand that. Just think of all the billings SCO's tricks and
shenanigans have generated for his firm. [ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, January 20 2011 @ 10:33 PM EST |
FYI as i recall, the admonishment at the start from obien was to stop
rehashing the trial facts from the record and the brief because what the
appeals court needed to see was the law.
It was kind of awkward and abrupt, but despite that was also was pretty
much ignored as my notes show.
I can only guess that he prepped the way he did and thus was committed
to that road-- likely supplemented by not having much to seize upon as a
misapprehension or misapplication of the law.
---
Clocks
"Ita erat quando hic adveni."[ Reply to This | # ]
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- O'brien admonishment - Authored by: SPQR on Thursday, January 20 2011 @ 10:52 PM EST
- O'brien admonishment - Authored by: WhiteFang on Friday, January 21 2011 @ 03:33 AM EST
- Smoke and mirrors - Authored by: NigelWhitley on Friday, January 21 2011 @ 12:25 PM EST
- O'brien admonishment - Authored by: SPQR on Friday, January 21 2011 @ 05:19 PM EST
- O'brien admonishment - Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, January 21 2011 @ 05:33 PM EST
- It's huge - Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, January 21 2011 @ 07:28 PM EST
- Agreed - Authored by: Anonymous on Saturday, January 22 2011 @ 12:46 AM EST
- It's huge - Authored by: Anonymous on Sunday, January 23 2011 @ 07:52 AM EST
- It's huge - Authored by: Anonymous on Sunday, January 23 2011 @ 07:58 AM EST
- O'brien admonishment - Authored by: SPQR on Friday, January 21 2011 @ 07:36 PM EST
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Authored by: rsteinmetz70112 on Thursday, January 20 2011 @ 10:50 PM EST |
PJ could you please let us know what new argument SCO introduced?
---
Rsteinmetz - IANAL therefore my opinions are illegal.
"I could be wrong now, but I don't think so."
Randy Newman - The Title Theme from Monk
[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: wharris on Friday, January 21 2011 @ 12:20 AM EST |
An opinion from a non-lawyer:
SCO has an insurmountable problem. They succeeded in convincing the appeals
court that the contract was vague and needed witnesses and fact-finding, and
that it was not clear-cut [in favor of Novell]. Now they are trying to convince
the
same court that the same contract is not vague at all but is actually so
clear-cut
[in favor of SCO] no fact-finding is needed.[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: BitOBear on Friday, January 21 2011 @ 12:21 AM EST |
The de-novo (is that the right term?) argument that the second trial was about
"which copyrights transferred" isn't a necessarily new nor
inconsistent question. It is, instead, an attempt to, as the saying goes, create
"a distinction without a difference".
The predicate argument is, or must be, based on a poor understanding of english
as a language. It is notable that this happens all the time in plain speach,
where common people think "discrimination is bad" because they have
conflated the specific acts of bias discrimination with the idea of
discrimination as a whole. For instance "racial discrimination" is
bad, but "flavor discrimination" is not. (to whit "I wont hire
[ethnic designation] because they are all [presumptive trait]" is bad, but
"I won't eat chocolate because it is gross" is a perfectly fine
discrimination to make.)
What does that mean here?
Well SCO's latest bite at the apple is a construction based on the idea that
"a list of which copyrights are required" must a priori be "a
non-empty list of which copyrights are required". The distinction is the
mention-or-not of the "if any" clause. The facts of English language,
math, and logic, and indeed reason itself do not _ever_ demand, absent a
positive and explicit statement of inclusion, that a list be non-empty.
SCO, having been shown as a matter of fact, before a tryer of fact, to require
no System V Unix source code copyrights to pursue its UnixWare business, was, in
fact, transferred exactly no copyrights.
SCO has then argues that its expressly non-UnixWare business entities, e.g. SCO
Source et al, "requires" transfer of copyrights. That is a true and
correct statement. It is also a completely irrelevant one. See the word
"required" in the APA ammendment 2 is directly and explicitly coupled
to the UnixWare business.
So do the little ven-diagram (spelling?), you know the thing with the labeled
circles. There is "SVRX copyrights" "Copyrights Required for the
UnixWare business" and "copyrights required for SCO Source to
function." The first two do not overlap at all.
SCO has its own copyright interest in UnixWare, which is all it needs to
function in the UnixWare market and protect its UnixWare interests and assets.
In this sense SCO is no different than anybody else who has a Unix SVRx based
product.
It doesn't matter where you draw the third circle. Indeed SCO Source was based
on an idea that was disproved in SCO vs IBM. SCO Source is non-functional, but
where there some basis to it, it might encompass some part of the SVRx circle.
But again, that doesn't matter.
The SCO Source circle came along years after the APA et al. Its presence or
absence is immaterial to the fact of the APA in all forms.
The tryer's of fact ruled twice, once as a judge, and once as a jury...
Copyright Assets required to transfer for UnixWare business? NONE.
Copyright Assets therefore transferred by Ammendment 2? NONE.
There is the list. It exists. It has been adjudicated twice now. SCO is sad that
the list is empty and wants to say that since there is a list, the list cannot
be empty.
Difference SCO's desires in the matter make as to the facts: NONE.
So the attempt to try to strip off the "if any" at this late date is
moot, because both the concept of the list, and the nature of the word
"required" carry "if any" around as an unavoidable fixture.
Even under the new SCO words, the mater has been brought before the tryer(s) of
fact and definitively answered.
P.S. I love chocolate, it was just an example. 8-)[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, January 21 2011 @ 01:18 AM EST |
Considering the speed of the hearing and preparedness of the Judges, I'll
say....
Next Friday!
OK... there's a LOT of hope built in to my
estimate ;)
RAS[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, January 21 2011 @ 06:10 AM EST |
"against Microsoft and Linux"
Is this what the lawyer really said, or a mis-write on the part of the reporter?
I would think the lawyer would have meant "IBM and Linux".[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: DaveJakeman on Friday, January 21 2011 @ 08:15 AM EST |
After something of a hiatus, this was a real treat! Many thanks to Clocks, SPQR
and charlie_Turner for recreating the courtroom atmosphere and excitement.
In the first appeal it was all ambiguous, so needed remanding for jury trial to
figure out what it all meant. In this appeal, it's clear as a bell to support
SCO's new argument. SCO's reality gets squishier and squishier, but we still
get to see Singer push the envelope of what can be done with fine taps. No
matter how squishy it gets underfoot, he keeps on tappin' out that rhythm.
The judges are up to speed though and really get it. They're quick to spot what
SCO are trying to befuddle with. It's time to whip Singer's shoes off and toast
his toes against the fire. Better yet, leave his taps on.
That final handshake seems deeply symbolic, and with Jacobs taking the
initiative, I hope, prophetic.
A most enjoyable read. Are we there yet?[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: om1er on Friday, January 21 2011 @ 08:22 AM EST |
I am wondering, PJ, have the TSCOG supporters bombarded Groklaw this time like
they have in the past?
I've checked the Yahoo! SCOGQ.PK message board, and there is not one single post
about how TSCOG is the harmed party and deserves to win. Even backinfullforce
(or any of his many aliases) has not shown up, and I thought he would go to his
grave posting comments favorable to TSCOG and then they'd put some on his
tombstone. When BIFF is gone, you know TSCOG is out of time.
At InvestorVillage's SCOQ.PK board, which is several shades more civil than the
Yahoo! board, no TSCOG supporters showed up either, but that is not unusual. No
supporter was ever well received there.
---
March 23, 2010 - Judgement day.[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, January 21 2011 @ 01:30 PM EST |
Perhaps what SCO was looking for here was... <drumroll>
A second amendment remedy <rimshot>
[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, January 21 2011 @ 01:53 PM EST |
I don't think Jacobs was digressing when he brought up the parole evidence rule.
As someone mentioned above about Singer being prepared for one argument only
and not being able to change tracks, I think Jacobs to a certain extent was
doing the same.
It looks funny in the eyewitness notes because it seems to come out of nowhere,
but it make sense if you read SCO brief, because their "not if copyrights
transferred, but how many" interpretation hinges on the testimony of
Frankenberg, et al.
Jacobs would have prepared his arguments based on that brief, and would be sure
to cover those points (particularly since Novell got stung on the damages
arguments because they had failed to bring something up earlier).
So he was just being thorough.[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, January 21 2011 @ 03:37 PM EST |
I think that there is no clearer sign that Singer lost than what happened in
that 19 seconds. He doesn't rebut Jacobs at all, he just repeats condensed
versions of his own position as fast as he can get the words out.
Actually, his second sentence is sort of an attemtp at a rebuttal, but it's a
pretty weak one, because SCO didn't buy the lawsuits, nor the right to sue the
world on behalf of that codebase. So the argument becomes "we need the
copyrights so that we can win the lawsuits where we are suing over copyrights
that we don't have". It's the same circular tap-dance that the judges
slapped him down for during his first statement.
MSS2[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, January 21 2011 @ 05:04 PM EST |
"Singer's quotation of the opinion in support of his claim that that was
the 10th Circuit's previous holding was disputed by Judge Seymour who appeared
to not appreciate how Singer was quoting the case."
I can understand how a lawyer might think he or she could get away with
misrepresenting the holding of another court, but the same court being
addressed? This seems to be a tacit admission that SCO has no case in the
appeal. [ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: webster on Friday, January 21 2011 @ 05:31 PM EST |
.
Thanks to the reporters. As we have learned, there are things the reporters
pick up that the transcript ignores, like actions, pregnant pauses, expressions
and other phenomena. How would you like to go out one night and read the
transcript of a movie?
Singer started out with his bootstrap argument: "The APA conveyed the
copyrights because they were necessary for SCO to enforce its
(copy)rights." The argument assumes what they had to prove. The judges
certainly brought him up on it.
At some point he did get to a a more fertile argument - the trial was prejudiced
by the Judge permitting evidence of the first decision against SCO. He had to
argue that there was something wrong with the trial other than the outcome. As
in the first trial, SCO has to show that the Judge made an error. There were
two other prejudicial errors alleged, one was "the most hated SCO"
article. The third, and time to research it, escapes at the moment. It is
surprising that Singer didn't pound away at these errors since they affected the
jury decision. The other decisions were decided only by the Judge and would be
reversed only for an "abuse of discretion." Judges defer to the
presiding judge's discretion, since he was there and saw and heard all the
evidence and motions. For the same reason they are loathe to go behind the jury
verdict unless there is an extremely prejudicial error. Simply not believing a
witness, or a Novell cabal, is not prejudicial.
The comments on judicial preparedness are interesting in light of a recent
argument covered here on Groklaw wherein the first question blurted over the
argument by the appellate justice betrayed a possible lack of preparedness,
comprehension, or capability thereof. No doubt there were chuckles in chambers
throughout the land. It knocked the lawyer off his line. Singer certainly got
bullied this day, but possibly appropriately. It is impossible that the
justices and their staff were not aware of a certain scrutiny that would attend
this day. The law clerks were sure to thumb these briefs and consult the
software primers. These judges were ready.
Trifling with McConnell's words garnered an immediate reward. The presumption
goes with the decision rendered below. Since this trial was exactly what
McConnell ordered, a copyright trial with parol evidence, SCO had to attack the
trial, not re-construe McConnell's decision.
McConnell and the Circuit were willing to go overboard for SCO the first time
since Kimball had taken away their sacrosanct right to a jury trial. They
accepted SCO's facts, and ignored the specifics demanded in a Federal copyright
transfer. SCO has much less goodwill behind them in this appeal.
Despite getting exactly what they wanted, SCO failed in the jury trial. This
consistency gives the outcomes an aura of "truth." But don't give up.
The only people SCO has convinced of anything is this self-same Circuit. If
this had happened in a state appeal, one would expect a two-page, unpublished,
memorandum decision on Monday.
~webster~
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Authored by: AntiFUD on Friday, January 21 2011 @ 08:06 PM EST |
Great commentary from Lewis A. Mettler over on lamlaw.com, interesting take on
the 'parol' mention by Jacobs. My take is that his agreement with the comments
here by SPQR and webster rates an A+ cum laude.
Perhaps this should be added to Newspicks - no, not my comment but a link to
lamlaw!
Thanks for all the excellent reporting, I have really enjoyed my reading here
today.
---
IANAL - Free to Fight FUD - "to this very day"
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Authored by: sk43 on Saturday, January 22 2011 @ 02:37 PM EST |
Straight from the Tenth Circuit's Practitioner's Guide, p. 60:
http://www.ca10.uscourts.gov/downloads/pracguide_web.pdf
"Counsel should aim for controlled flexibility, a relaxed resilience that
enables a response to a judge's question and yet permits return gracefully to
the counsel's charted course. This is a real art of advocacy. Often a question
goes to the heart of what the judge thinks is the decisive issue. Counsel must
listen to the judge and respond in a way which disabuses the panel of any
misapprehension of the advocate's position. One great advocate says to REJOICE
WHEN THE COURT ASKS QUESTIONS. Not only does it show the panel is awake, but a
question enables the advocate to penetrate the mind of the court. Yet, of
course, counsel must not let the court keep counsel from reaching the major
points that must be made. Oral argument should be spent treating the main issues
that counsel relies upon, and counsel must get to those."
By that measure, Stuart was the big winner on Thursday. Right?[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: Anonymous on Sunday, January 23 2011 @ 03:51 AM EST |
SCOg may have missed the opportunity to succeed in its' quest. It should have
argued that No really meant Yes, everyone else misinterpreted the jury's true
intent. [ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: Anonymous on Sunday, January 23 2011 @ 01:55 PM EST |
P.J., I think you said that transcripts are not available from the 10th circuit
COA. If SCO loses here and decides to appeal to the SCOTUS, are they appealing
the 10th circuit COA decision or the original decision from Judge Gross?
If they are appealing the 10th circuit COA decision, wouldn't the SCOTUS need
transcripts from the court?[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: charlie Turner on Sunday, January 23 2011 @ 04:47 PM EST |
With respect to Mr. Jacobs being the first to shake hands, I would be completely
remiss to not mention that after court was adjourned, I was out in the hallway,
talking to people, when a group of people came out of the courtroom and one of
them asked: "Is anyone here from Groklaw?" I spun around and said:
" Yes, I'm charlie Turner, with Groklaw." He stuck his hand out,and
said: "Michael Jacobs, Morrison Foerster. Before I had a chance to even
take that in and totally freak out, he continued: "What did you think of
today's hearing? I mentioned that compared to the last one I attended,the June
15th '09 bk hearing in Wilmington, this one went so fast I really couldn't take
good notes. He rolled his eyes, and made a couple of facial expressions that
told me he well remembered that well oiled train wreck. One of the other MOFOs
said they looked forward to reading my report, and they walked off, leaving me
standing there shaking a bit, and wondering if that just really happened. :)! [ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: benw on Monday, January 24 2011 @ 08:02 PM EST |
Latest attempt at an APA is on the docket. [ Reply to This | # ]
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