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SCO and IBM Stipulate on Going Forward with Utah Litigation -- It's Game On ~ pj
Thursday, February 16 2012 @ 03:53 PM EST

SCO and IBM have reached a stipulation [PDF] on how to go forward on reactivating the Utah litigation, and SCO has filed it in Bankruptcy Court in Delaware. Assuming it's signed by the judge, the Hon. Kevin Gross, in time for the April 23rd hearing now scheduled in Utah District Court in Salt Lake City before the Hon. Dee Benson on SCO's laughable motion to let only *it* go ahead and IBM not, I'd say it's game on. They've agreed IBM can proceed with its defenses and counterclaims. It was IBM that suggested in its opposition to SCO's motion that the best way forward was to ask the Bankruptcy Court to lift the stay on *both* parties, which is what the stipulation agrees to.

Update: The judge in Bankruptcy Court in Delaware has already signed the order approving the stipulation.

Here's the meat of the stipulation about going forward in SCO v. IBM, emphasis added:

The automatic stay imposed under section 362 of the Bankruptcy Code is modified to permit IBM (a) to defend the Utah Action and prosecute its Counterclaims against SCO and (b) to offset any judgment against it against any claim it may have against SCO; however, (i) the effect of clause (b) of this paragraph is limited solely to relief from the automatic stay; SCO shall preserve any and all defenses to setoff of any such claims that it may have, and all of IBM’s claims to a right of setoff shall be preserved, and (ii) IBM shall not seek to enforce against SCO any judgment obtained in the Utah Action, except as provided in this Stipulation....

IBM shall not oppose the reopening of the Utah Action. However, all of IBM’s other objections to, and all of SCO’s arguments in support of, all other relief sought in the Motion to Reopen the Case are preserved, and nothing in this Stipulation shall be construed as supporting or waiving any such other objection or argument.

And here's the docket entry on the stipulation:

02/16/2012 - 1395 - Certification of Counsel Regarding Stipulation and Order Modifying the Automatic Stay Filed by Edward N. Cahn, Chapter 11 Trustee for The SCO Group, Inc., et al.. (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit A) (Tarr, Stanley) (Entered: 02/16/2012)

Here's the order:
02/16/2012 - 1396 - Order Granting Stipulation and Order Modifying The Automatic Stay (related document(s)1395) Order Signed on 2/16/2012. (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit 1) (SB) (Entered: 02/16/2012)

SCO is waving the white flag on its crazy idea to let only SCO go forward. Judge Gross hasn't shown much interest in forcing SCO to pay anybody except its lawyers. But this has never, in my view, been about money for IBM. They want their good name unsullied by these people. And can you blame them?

Here's what else IBM suggested in its opposition to SCO's motion that didn't happen in the stipulation, so it's what will likely be raised in Utah next:

39. In summary, IBM supports the expeditious resolution of this case. But the best way to bring that about is not to proceed piecemeal as to three of SCO' s claims, especially where, as here, those claims are intimately related to IBM's counterclaims, which remain stayed due to SCO's bankruptcy filing, and are barred by the Novell Judgment. We respectfully submit that the most sensible way to proceed here is for the Court to enter an order (i) providing that this case shall be reopened within 5 days of the filing of a notice (by any party) that the stay of IBM's counterclaims has been lifted, which SCO should be able to accomplish expeditiously; (ii) stating that the claims that SCO concedes are foreclosed by the Novell Judgment will be dismissed when the case is reopened; (iii) directing that, within 45 days of the reopening of the case, any party may make a motion for summary judgment addressing the impact of the Novell Judgment on all remaining claims; and (iv) ordering the parties jointly to submit, within 10 days of the entry of an order of the Court determining the impact of the Novell Judgment, a proposed scheduling order to govern the balance of the case.
From SCO's point of view, it's all about Project Monterey. But IBM has a lot more it would like to talk about. Now it can. Well. On paper it's all about Project Monterey for SCO. But in reality, as far as I can tell, it's all about avoiding having to pay the piper for all the things SCO did.

Of course, the Bankruptcy Court keeps its thumb on the ultimate money, if the outcome is against SCO, but that's unavoidable in that Delaware is apparently going to let SCO stay in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as long as it takes to get the litigation resolved. Besides, SCO doesn't have any money. They tossed it all to the winds, and lawyers and other professionals got it. In their December monthly operating report, filed in bankruptcy court, they say TSG has almost no assets left and debts up over their head:

02/10/2012 - 1393 - Debtor-In-Possession Monthly Operating Report for Filing Period as of 12/31/11 (In re TSG Group, Inc. (f/k/a The SCO Group, Inc.), et al.) Filed by TSG Group, Inc. (f/k/a The SCO Group, Inc.), et al.. (Tarr, Stanley) (Entered: 02/10/2012)

02/10/2012 - 1394 - Debtor-In-Possession Monthly Operating Report for Filing Period as of 12/31/11 (In re TSG Operations, Inc. (f/k/a SCO Operations, Inc.), et al.; Case No. 07-11338) Filed by TSG Group, Inc. (f/k/a The SCO Group, Inc.), et al.. (Tarr, Stanley) (Entered: 02/10/2012)

The MOR for TSG shows total assets as $0 (yes, that's "zero"), down from $1,326,293 on petition date, and total liabilities of $1,119,238, up from $418,965 on petition date. The MOR for TSG Operations shows total assets as $1,515,129, down from $15,493,080 on petition date, and total liabilities of $9,739,295, up from $4,311,640 on petition date. Go SCO! It was not bankrupt when it entered bankruptcy protection, but it surely is now.

I know some of you have wondered why SCO never entered Ch. 7. Maybe to keep Delaware control on the money outcome? You think?

A lot can happen between now and April 23rd, so if you were planning to attend, and I know some of you were, note that you need to check in with Groklaw and/or the court before you set out that day to make sure it's still on. There are still the issues IBM raised about further motion practice, so the hearing may still go forward on that and any other issues.

For those who can't even remember this motion, here's where you can go to refresh your memory:

If you read all three, you'll see the playbook of what each side hopes the litigation will be about and why each thinks it's right.

Another Caldera Press Releas from 1996

While we are waiting, I found another 1996 Caldera press release I wanted to add to our collection, mainly for historians, because Caldera made some acquisitions that year to help them meld UNIX and Linux together to make Caldera OpenLinux. And I have the press release where Caldera announced the first product.

One reason I wanted to stop doing Groklaw on a daily basis was so I could sort through all the materials I'd saved over the years, to make sure our record of this saga was as complete as I could make it. In the early days, I didn't know as much technically as I do now, and while I had saved a lot of things, I didn't necessarily know at the time what it meant, so I wanted to look through it all and see if I'd missed anything.

We had earlier noted a Caldera press release from May 23, 1996. And it's still online on alt.os.linux.caldera, thanks to Google, which has preserved the old archives. Thank you, Google. In that press release, Caldera was announcing that it was acquiring some technologies that it hoped to use to achieve X/Open Unix certification for the version of Linux it would be developing, called Caldera OpenLinux. Here's the paragraph that especially caught my eye at the time, emphasis added:

Caldera has also retained the UNIX systems and Linux expertise of engineers from Linux Support Team (LST) of Erlangen, Germany, who will spend the next few months integrating technologies from Lasermoon, Caldera's existing operating system, additional Single UNIX Specification APIs and Internet technologies, and LST's Linux 2.2 operating system, based on Linux 2.0 source code from the Internet. The resulting version of the Linux OS will be called Caldera Open Linux. It will be POSIX.1 (FIPS 151-2) certified, localized and fully compatible with Caldera's existing products.
Now did you notice the Unix and Linux guys working together -- no Chinese wall -- to make it all work together, UNIX and Linux?

Oh, and remember SCO alleging that Linux was just a toy until IBM got involved? That's part of its allegations against IBM in its complaint. Read the press release for the truth. It says Linux was second to Sun in World Wide Web servers, with 9% of that market in *1995*, half a decade before SCO claims IBM got into the picture. Mr. Sparks:

Linux technologies developed by the Internet community have secured market share and application development that rivals the best of established computer industry vendors.
They followed through and later that year, on October 9th, they announced the availability of Caldera Open Linux, and I'll show you the full press release on that in a second, but look at this ironic bit:
Caldera, Inc. designs, develops and markets a line of full-featured, economical system software for the Internet by the Internet, providing stable, high-quality alternatives to NT, Sun Solaris, and SCO UNIX.
Ah, the sweet smell of truth. Alternatives. Caldera *wanted* people to switch from SCO UNIX to Linux, and it worked hard to make it happen. Now they want to sue IBM because it did happen. If you recall, SCO told the IBM judge back in 2007 the following:
19. Contrary to IBM assertions at paragraph 50 of the Motion, and elsewhere, SCO did not encourage its partners or its customers to use or support Linux instead of Unix. Rather, SCO consistently positioned Linux as a complementary solution to UNIX, and something that could be used in addition to (not in place of) UNIX.
That's SCO pretending it was Santa Cruz Operation, not Caldera, but that's just SCO's inner voices. The point is, IBM didn't interfere with SCO's UNIX business by encouraging Linux adoption. Caldera did that. So TSG should sue itself. And speaking of truth, note this paragraph:
Certification

Currently, Caldera is working with the Linux community in making COL compliant and certified with industry standards like POSIX.1 (FIPS 151-2), Single UNIX Specification APIs and X-Open branding. These additions will be in future releases of COL stratified products when the enhancements have been integrated by key Linux developers. All of the work for standards compliance will be freely contributed back to the Linux community.

First they induce you. Then they sue you.

Not exactly. They got a new CEO in 2002 and a new business plan. Here's the full press release, for history:

CALDERA ANNOUNCES NEW CALDERA OPENLINUX (COL)
PLATFORM AND THREE-TIER PRODUCT STRATEGY

New Technology and Stratified Products to Ship in 4th
Quarter 1996 and Throughout 1997

Provo, UT October 9, 1996 Caldera Inc. today announced the development and implementation of Caldera OpenLinux (COL), a new 32-bit, Linux 2.x-based platform for extending local area networks (LANs) to the home, branch office, remote user, Inter/intranet and embedded systems. To extend the LANs in an economical and easily managed way, COL technology will be offered in three product stratifications; base, workstation and server. Caldera the leader in commercial Linux-based system software debuted COL this week at UNIX Expo in New York.

"Caldera first met customer demand for commercial Linux solutions by combining Linux technologies with enterprise standards like NetWare and Netscape Navigator ," said Ransom Love, vice president of marketing and sales for Caldera. "From the best of these and other technologies have evolved the Caldera OpenLinux platform and stratified products. Caldera product offerings will now be based on the COL platform with complete stratified solutions for workgroup and network/server environments."

The secure, peer-to-peer COL platform first evolved from the synthesis of Caldera's existing Linux-based technologies and those acquired from Lasermoon of Wickham, England, pioneers of the Linux migration towards X/Open standards and other certifications.

The efforts of the Linux System Technologies (LST) of Erlangen, Germany, completed the evolution of COL by integrating the Caldera and Lasermoon technologies with additional Internet technologies and LST's Linux 2.x-based products. COL is the official upgrade path for Lasermoon customers.

Certification

Currently, Caldera is working with the Linux community in making COL compliant and certified with industry standards like POSIX.1 (FIPS 151-2), Single UNIX Specification APIs and X-Open branding. These additions will be in future releases of COL stratified products when the enhancements have been integrated by key Linux developers. All of the work for standards compliance will be freely contributed back to the Linux community.

Languages

Caldera is committed to providing products for the global Linux market. COL stratified products will ship with an installation localized into English and German. Additional components of the product will be localized into English, French, German and Spanish. Caldera also plans product localization for the Japanese and Chinese markets.

COL base

The COL base product includes the following:

- Linux 2.x (multi-tasking, multi-user, 32-bit kernel with firewall facilities and comprehensive system utilities open source code included on CD-ROM)

- LookingGlass (graphical user interface with icon bar, drag and drop, comprehensive file typing and user-defined configuration, etc.)

- Netscape Navigator 2.02 (the widely popular client software for enterprise networks and the Internet)

- X-Inside 1.3 (accelerated X-Window system with more than 400 graphical drivers)

- CrispLite (powerful, graphical text editor)

- Caldera Solutions CD (fee-based, commercial, Linux-based software applications from Caldera and other industry leaders)

...and other technologies

The COL base product provides Linux users and first time UNIX buyers with a comprehensive UNIX system that can run on Intel-based PCs including laptops with 16 MB of RAM. COL will be made available to hardware and software OEMs, Channel Partners and be the industry- standard platform for ISVs porting applications to Linux.

The Caldera Solutions CD allows resellers and Linux users to purchase and install from the CD-ROM Linux-based software applications to facilitate the creation of customized solutions.

COL workstation

Plans for the COL workstation product include:

- COL base product (Linux 2.x, LookingGlass, X-Inside 1.3 and CrispLite, etc.)

- Netscape Navigator 3.0 Gold (Java , news reader and authoring tools)

- NetWare Client and NetWare Administration Enhancements
(Increased and enhanced NDS, bindery and print administration utility. Enhanced GUI desktop utilities, tightly integrated with the Looking Glass desktop.)

- Market-leading, commercial, secure, web server (a complete solution for creating and managing web sites plus, the development and deployment of live, network-centric, media-rich applications for the Inter/intranet)

- Caldera Solutions CD

...and other technologies

COL workstation is the Inter/intranet workstation solution providing client and server capabilities for NetWare, UNIX and Windows NT in conjunction with full Inter/intranet, authoring, publishing and browsing capabilities. All services on the local network may be extended down-the-hall, to-the-home or around the world across a high-speed connection by simply adding a frame relay or ISDN commodity card to Intel-based PCs. COL workstation is the second-generation solution for Caldera Network Desktop (CND) customers and replaces CND.

COL server

- COL workstation product (Linux 2.x, Netscape Navigator 3.0 Gold, NetWare Client Enhancements, commercial, secure, web server etc.)

- Novell Cross Platform Services (NCPS) (includes license for Novell Directory Services (NDS) and five-user NetWare File and Print )

- Caldera Solutions CD

- Novell GroupWise (Caldera has contracted to include a five-user license)

...and other technologies

The COL server is designed for the workgroup and small office environments that need to fully utilize all systems. The COL server combines a complete applications server with all necessary Inter/intranet technologies enabling an organization to publish and interoperate with the Internet in a secure fashion. The COL server complements all NetWare, UNIX and Windows NT environments.

Future Development and Internet/Linux Community Funding

Caldera will continue to collaborate with developers in the Internet and Linux communities to develop and refine technologies that add the specific functionality requested by Caldera's customers. In addition, Caldera will provide a percentage of net revenues from COL-based products back to the Internet and Linux communities through funding for future technology development.

Customer Support

Support for the COL base product will be Internet-based, using the WWW and FTP. In addition to the Internet-based support, support for the workstation and server products will include free thirty-day installation support as well as fee-based, per incident support calls.

Pricing

The COL base product is scheduled to ship in November, 1996 for a suggested retail price of $59 US. The COL workstation product will ship for a suggested retail price of less than $300 US. The COL server product will ship for a suggested retail price of less than $1500 US.

Promotions and Upgrades

Until December 31, 1996, current registered CND users and those who purchase and register CND between now and December 31, or while supplies last, may purchase COL workstation for $59 US.

The COL base product is not an upgrade to CND. Users of the COL base product will be provided an upgrade to both COL workstation and COL server when these products ship.

Until December 31, 1996, current users of any Linux operating system (WGS LinuxPro, Red Hat, Slackware, Yggdrasil Plug and Play Linux, etc.) may upgrade to the COL base product for $45 US. Proof of usage may be presented to any Caldera Channel Partner or Caldera, Inc.

Caldera, Inc. designs, develops and markets a line of full-featured, economical system software for the Internet by the Internet, providing stable, high-quality alternatives to NT, Sun Solaris, and SCO UNIX. Caldera uses it own technological and marketing resources to leverage technologies including the Linux operating system created by independent developers worldwide. Visit the Caldera web site at http://www.caldera.com/.

### Caldera is a registered trademark; and Caldera OpenLinux, Caldera Network Desktop, Caldera Solutions CD and Caldera OpenDOS are trademarks of Caldera, Inc. UNIX is a registered trademark, in the United States and other countries, licensed exclusively through X/OPEN Company Limited. Netscape Communications, the Netscape Communications logo, Netscape and Netscape Navigator are trademarks of Netscape Communications Corporation. All other products, services, companies and publications are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

Caldera Press Contacts:

Lyle Ball
lyle.b...@caldera.com
Tel: [redacted]

Nancy Pomeroy
na...@caldera.com
Tel: [redacted]

Here's the entire press release, the one dated May 23, 1996 and published on alt.os.linux.caldera on May 26, 1996, posted by Rick Lindsay, that I want to include in our records, just in case. It's been eye-opening to see how much of the SCO saga is no longer where it was on the Internet, and how much has simply disappeared. That's why we do Groklaw:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 23, 1996

CALDERA OPEN LINUX PRODUCT TO OBTAIN
POSIX AND FIPS CERTIFICATIONS, AND THE
X/OPEN BRAND FOR UNIX 95 AND XPG4 BASE 95

Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) and localization
added to Caldera's product line

LINUX KONGRESS, BERLIN, Germany May 23, 1996 - Caldera, Inc. today announced that it has acquired additional key Linux technologies and engineers, enabling the company to achieve the X/Open brand for UNIX 95 and other certifications for its next version of the Linux operating system, Caldera Open Linux, upon which Caldera will base its product line beginning this Fall. Caldera believes the X/Open brand and other certifications are the next steps forward in providing the corporate and government markets with proven Linux technologies and products, which have gained substantial market share among the Internet and development communities during the past several years. Caldera also today announced plans to add LDAP technologies to Caldera's product line.

"By developing and publishing source code over the Internet, Caldera and the Linux community are changing the way that an X/Open branded UNIX 95 operating system is developed and distributed," said Bryan Sparks, President and CEO of Caldera, Inc. "Linux technologies developed by the Internet community have secured market share and application development that rivals the best of established computer industry vendors. Caldera development and infrastructure efforts will now take Linux technologies and products into companies, governments and other organizations that demand that software undergo rigid standards testing and certifications."

Caldera has acquired additional Linux technologies from Lasermoon of Wickham, England. Lasermoon pioneered Linux's migration towards X/Open standards and other certifications, and held the necessary test suites and membership in The Open Group, the leading consortium for the advancement of open systems. Ian Nandhra, one of Lasermoon's co-founders, is now Caldera's Director of Product Certification.

Caldera has also retained the UNIX systems and Linux expertise of engineers from Linux Support Team (LST) of Erlangen, Germany, who will spend the next few months integrating technologies from Lasermoon, Caldera's existing operating system, additional Single UNIX Specification APIs and Internet technologies, and LST's Linux 2.2 operating system, based on Linux 2.0 source code from the Internet. The resulting version of the Linux OS will be called Caldera Open Linux. It will be POSIX.1 (FIPS 151-2) certified, localized and fully compatible with Caldera's existing products.

Caldera Open Linux, scheduled for release in Q3 1996, will be published freely with full source code via the Internet to individuals and organizations seeking stable, UNIX systems solutions. Caldera plans to achieve: POSIX.1 (FIPS 151-2) in Q3 1996; XPG4 Base 95 (POSIX.2, FIPS 186) by Q4 1996; and X/Open brand for UNIX 95 based on the Single UNIX Specification (formerly known as SPEC 1170) during 1997.

"The Open Group is very pleased that Caldera has chosen to obtain the X/Open brand for UNIX 95 for its version of the Linux operating system," said Graham Bird, Director of Branding for the Open Group. "Once Caldera Open Linux achieves the X/Open brand, it will be qualified to bid business in the open systems market the value of which exceeds $16 billion in procurement of X/Open branded products alone."

Ransom Love, Vice President of Marketing and Sales for Caldera, added,"Our customers are pleased with the capabilities of Caldera's first product, the Caldera Network Desktop, and are now asking us to provide the X/Open brand, localization, and additional technologies. Caldera Open Linux will provide this additional functionality and certification capabilities that no existing Linux OS version can provide."

Caldera made this announcement from Linux Kongress in Berlin, Germany, where the core of Linux developers and vendors worldwide meet each year to discuss accomplishments and future plans for Linux technologies. At Linux Kongress, Caldera planned to meet with key Linux developers and vendors to discuss how Caldera can best meet the needs of the Internet community, Linux developers and enthusiasts, and the commercial computer industry market all of which are seeking to lower computing costs while increasing the functionality and availability of customizable software systems.

Caldera will collaborate with developers in the Internet and Linux communities to develop and refine technologies that add specific functionality that Caldera's customers are requesting. In addition to publishing the source code for Caldera Open Linux, Caldera will provide a significant percentage of net revenues from the product back to the Internet and Linux communities through funding for future technology development.

Caldera is also collaborating with mainstream industry software vendors (ISVs) who are porting their products to Caldera's platform. Caldera and its partners are delivering products that provide Internet and UNIX systems capabilities at commodity pricing.

LDAP

Caldera also today announced plans to release Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) services and incorporate LDAP into Caldera's product line this Fall. LDAP creates a standard way for Internet clients, Web servers and applications to access directory listings of thousands of Internet users.

"Caldera supports LDAP as a proposed open standard for directory services on the Internet," said Sparks. "LDAP will enable Caldera's customers to access online directory services via the TCP/IP network protocol."

Caldera Europe

Currently, Caldera's European business is handled by LunetIX based in Berlin, Germany. This Fall, Caldera will create Caldera Europe, comprised of employees from both LunetIX and LST. European customers and resellers seeking additional information about Caldera should contact LunetIX in Berlin at telephone number +49-30-623-5787 or contact Caldera's Provo, Utah-based headquarters.

The Caldera Linux Operating System

Caldera's mission includes creating the products, alliances, VAR channel, ISV channel, technical support programs and corporate accountability necessary for an emerging technology to obtain widespread implementation in the business environment. Using Linux technologies, Caldera has a solid start. Mirai, a Chicago-based consulting company, polled Webmasters worldwide in 1995 and found that nine percent of World Wide Web servers were running on the Linux operating system (http://www.mirai.com/survey). This places Linux second only to Sun technologies as a UNIX systems Web server platform.

Caldera has created a solid foundation on which third party developers can successfully design, develop, distribute or employ services that meet the needs of the expanding market with low product costs for consumers. Caldera, Inc., a privately held company established in 1994, empowers the Internet community, developers, OEMs, channel partners, ISVs, industry partners, consultants and end- users to collaborate, innovate, build and deliver meaningful computing alternatives based on Linux to the business community. Caldera is at http://www.caldera.com/ or (801) 229-1675. For orders and information call (800) 850-7779 in the United States or (801) 269-7012 Internationally.

###

Caldera is a registered trademark; and Network Desktop, Caldera Internet Office Suite, Caldera Solutions CD, and Caldera Open Linux are trademarks of Caldera, Inc. UNIX is a registered trademark, in the United States and other countries, licensed exclusively through X/Open Company Limited. X/Open is a registered trademark of X/Open Company Limited.

Caldera Press Contact:

Lyle Ball, Senior Manager, Public Relations
lyle.b...@caldera.com, tel: [redacted]


  


SCO and IBM Stipulate on Going Forward with Utah Litigation -- It's Game On ~ pj | 261 comments | Create New Account
Comments belong to whoever posts them. Please notify us of inappropriate comments.
Chapter 7
Authored by: benw on Thursday, February 16 2012 @ 04:05 PM EST
I think it's well understood why SCO prefers to avoid Chapter 7. What I'm less
clear on is why what they say goes. Back in the day, a series of pretty strong
motions were filed by IBM, Novell, and the Office of the US Trustee asking for
a conversion to Chapter 7. Now, at the time SCO was able to argue
successfully against them, but there's been a lot of water (and money) under
the bridge since then and none of its arguments are now valid (inasmuch as
they ever were).

So what I don't understand is not why SCO wants to remain out of Chapter 7,
or why the court is content to let things continue, but why the other parties
and the OUST haven't filed renewed motions to convert since then, as it seems
there'd be no way for SCO to fight them now.

[ Reply to This | # ]

It used to be fun
Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, February 16 2012 @ 04:36 PM EST
When SCO first sued IBM, it was more interesting. The question was whether any
copied code had gotten from Unix to Linux. It was a programming puzzle, a
challenge to find stolen code. Then the case (or cases) was about contract
terms. Finally it was about stalling in bankruptcy court with imaginary
reorganization plans. Now we are back to contract terms. I got hooked on the
SCO-IBM dispute, so I will follow it to the end. The original question of of
copied code will never reach a court verdict since Novell owns the Unix code and
is not suing IBM.

[ Reply to This | # ]

SCO and IBM Stipulate on Going Forward with Utah Litigation -- If Approved, It's Game On ~ pj
Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, February 16 2012 @ 04:40 PM EST
The MOR for TSG Operations shows total assets as $1,515,129

Reading a little more detail, $1,120,205 of TOTAL CURRENT ASSETS is 'Intracompany Receivables - SCO Group.

As you noted, SCO Group's assets are $0. An honest accounting would have written these off as uncollectable, but SCO and honest are an oxymoron.

Since the 'Accrued Expense - Chapter 11 Fees' alone is $403,714, it is a mystery how they will pay for trial fees. Do the bankruptcy attorneys really think they can get something out of IBM? Maybe that's why they are bankruptcy attorneys and not trial attorneys.

[ Reply to This | # ]

IF approved
Authored by: DannyB on Thursday, February 16 2012 @ 04:51 PM EST
I read elsewhere a rumor that it is now approved.

---
The price of freedom is eternal litigation.

[ Reply to This | # ]

If Approved, It's Game On
Authored by: Steve Martin on Thursday, February 16 2012 @ 05:01 PM EST

It's approved. The filing is up on PACER now, docket [1396].

"Cry 'Havoc!' and let slip the dogs of war!"

---
"When I say something, I put my name next to it." -- Isaac Jaffe, "Sports Night"

[ Reply to This | # ]

Corrections thread
Authored by: nsomos on Thursday, February 16 2012 @ 05:25 PM EST
Should there be any corrections ... please post em here.
It may be helpful to summarize in title.

wronk->wrong

s/misteak/mistake/

[ Reply to This | # ]

...published freely with full source code
Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, February 16 2012 @ 05:52 PM EST
They knew the were publishing the source code? Snort!

[ Reply to This | # ]

    This Makes No Sense
    Authored by: sproggit on Thursday, February 16 2012 @ 05:52 PM EST
    I read in PJ's article that she believes that IBM are keen to clear their name
    once and for all, and that this is the reason that they want to go to court.

    Respectfully, I just don't see the sense in this.

    PJ also told us that a good lawyer can help ensure that you can win in court,
    but that a great lawyer will keep you out of the courtroom in the first place.
    Yet here we are with IBM apparently willing to go back into a courtroom before
    Judge Dee Benson yet again.

    On the "plus side", the decision in the case presided over by Judge
    Ted Stewart was pretty final, so Novell's win largely eviscerated the majority
    of TSG's claims.

    But why would IBM willingly go back into Court and give the SCOundrels yet more
    opportunities to besmirch them? What do IBM stand to gain? I am sure that some
    may respond with, "Their reputation," but, honestly, all this time
    later does it really matter? Perhaps more importantly, what of the opportunity
    for the likes of Darl, perhaps nursing a grudge, to "stick it" to IBM
    one last time? If there is one thing that Darl does well, it's grab headlines. I
    can't believe that sort of publicity would be good for IBM...

    Perhaps a better approach might have been to force Judge Gross to go for Chapter
    7 and be done with it.

    Serious question, Groklawrians: what benefits do you see for IBM in this gambit?

    [ Reply to This | # ]

    Off Topic Thread
    Authored by: artp on Thursday, February 16 2012 @ 06:41 PM EST
    For things not related to tSCOg FINALLY coming to justice.

    ---
    Userfriendly on WGA server outage:
    When you're chained to an oar you don't think you should go down when the galley
    sinks ?

    [ Reply to This | # ]

    News Picks Thread
    Authored by: artp on Thursday, February 16 2012 @ 06:42 PM EST
    URLs appreciated.

    ---
    Userfriendly on WGA server outage:
    When you're chained to an oar you don't think you should go down when the galley
    sinks ?

    [ Reply to This | # ]

    Comes Transcription Goes Here
    Authored by: artp on Thursday, February 16 2012 @ 06:43 PM EST
    Thank you!

    See Comes v. MS above for details. A prize in every
    package...

    ---
    Userfriendly on WGA server outage:
    When you're chained to an oar you don't think you should go down when the galley
    sinks ?

    [ Reply to This | # ]

    Have the Nazgul been loosed?
    Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, February 16 2012 @ 07:31 PM EST
    Do you get to see bloody SCO chunks soon?

    [ Reply to This | # ]

    Summary Judgements
    Authored by: Wol on Thursday, February 16 2012 @ 07:33 PM EST
    To those wondering why it's going forward, I think the clue is those repeated
    references to summary judgement.

    If IBM can get SCOG's claims terminated with prejudice in summary judgement,
    they will be happy. They will be properly vindicated (not vindicated by
    default).

    And I doubt Cahn will be that unhappy either. The more of this mess is cleaned
    up in summary judgement, the less will come back to haunt him later on. Even if
    they go against him (don't forget, the order does say that any damages will
    pretty much be whistling in the wind ...).

    In fact, if all that's left of this case after summary judgement is "how
    much damages does SCOG owe IBM", I can imagine Cahn doing a private jig to
    celebrate. To all intents and purposes the case will be over.

    Cheers,
    Wol

    [ Reply to This | # ]

    Ah, the sweet smell of truth
    Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, February 16 2012 @ 08:07 PM EST
    > Caldera *wanted* people to switch from SCO UNIX to Linux,
    > and it worked hard to make it happen. Now they want to
    > sue IBM because it did happen.
    ...
    >That's SCO pretending it was Santa Cruz Operation, not Caldera,
    > but that's just SCO's inner voices. The point is, IBM didn't interfere
    > with SCO's UNIX business by encouraging Linux adoption.
    > Caldera did that. So TSG should sue itself.

    Umm, how about a simpler explanation: Caldera was enticing
    SCO's Unix customers to switch to Linux, so SCO bought
    them out and closed them down. We know of at least one other
    company who does that.

    Note that doesn't stop SCO selectively picking thru Caldera's
    paperwork to keep contracts they like, or thought they liked
    back then.

    [ Reply to This | # ]

    Oooohhh Goodie Goodie Gumdrops!
    Authored by: inode_buddha on Thursday, February 16 2012 @ 08:43 PM EST
    I've been waiting for a *long* time... Oh how I wish I could see IBM
    "unwind" the profits that SCO's board and principals made off kiting
    their stock... Lanham act and the whole nine yards.. *drool*

    ---
    -inode_buddha

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

    [ Reply to This | # ]

    I think IBM has made a mistake
    Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, February 16 2012 @ 08:46 PM EST
    What point is there in winning the right to press counterclaims against a
    bankrupt company like SCO. If IBM wins its gets ... what exactly? Not money for
    sure, because there isn't any. Not assets because they all got shifted sideways
    to UnXis. I can see why SCO was willing to conceed on this. They literally have
    nothing to lose by allowing IBM to press its counterclaims. Nothing at all.

    [ Reply to This | # ]

    SCO really will have to borrow the bus fare to court, this time. ...nt
    Authored by: Ian Al on Friday, February 17 2012 @ 05:24 AM EST
    .

    ---
    Regards
    Ian Al
    Software Patents: It's the disclosed functions in the patent, stupid!

    [ Reply to This | # ]

    Tangential: Ian Nandhra and crawler bait
    Authored by: The Cornishman on Friday, February 17 2012 @ 06:21 AM EST

    I was intrigued by the mention of Lasermoon, and plugged the rather distinctive name Ian Nandhra into Google™, which led me, by way of some interesting posts about open source development and the website of a dance studio to a particular United States Patent Application, No 2008 0306968 [uspto.gov].

    The application, entitled Method and system for extracting, analyzing, storing, comparing and reporting on data stored in web and/or other network repositories and apparatus to detect, prevent and obfuscate information removal from information servers brings us almost back on topic with respect to PJ's remark about things not being on the Webz in the place that we saw them last. My summary of the abstract and claims of the patent application is that it describes crawler-bait. An implementation of the method and system would detect automated access to an information repository based on how fast, in what order and specifically what was accessed, and, get this, would/could delay the response, or omit, supplement or modify the data supplied in response. End result: a human browser would see different information to a web spider, bot, crawler or other non-human access mechanism.

    One of the claims covers distinguishing a bot by "access to a data item that would normally only be accessed by an automated mechanism". So, if your bot, as good bots should, looks for robots.txt in the root of the server [here's the one for uspto], then the session responses may be changed relative to one where the requests are made in a human timescale, or not in order of the href's on a page, etc. etc.

    Bottom line: information you browse to might not be what your favourite search engine finds and indexes. Moral: Bookmark often, and tag your bookmarks. For stuff you care about, save the page, and/or take screenshots, as we know PJ does.

    ---
    (c) assigned to PJ

    [ Reply to This | # ]

    Groklaw legal insight required -
    Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, February 17 2012 @ 11:17 AM EST
    To what extent is BSF required to pursue this if the bankrupt SCO is unable to
    keep its side of the agreement and pay the legal expenses?

    [ Reply to This | # ]

    Off-Topic: Oracle d3 rpt: two alternative approaches to calculating damages $52.M-$129.M
    Authored by: SilverWave on Friday, February 17 2012 @ 09:52 PM EST
    Quote:
    One, described as an "independent significance" approach, calls for
    damages of "at least $129.2 million," Google said.

    A second, described as a "group and value" method, puts total
    copyright and patent damages at between $52.4 million and $169 million, assuming
    the court requires a number of deductions Cockburn included in his calculations,
    Google said.

    ---
    RMS: The 4 Freedoms
    0 run the program for any purpose
    1 study the source code and change it
    2 make copies and distribute them
    3 publish modified versions

    [ Reply to This | # ]

    The SCO Group delenda est!
    Authored by: Anonymous on Sunday, February 19 2012 @ 10:52 PM EST

    Sorry for my bad Latin, but I think that is IBM's aim. They will sow their
    fields with salt, burn their city to the ground, sell their children into
    slavery...

    They really shouldn't teach Latin anymore. It can be such a bloodthirsty
    language. Guess that's why I like it so much ;)

    Wayne
    http://madhatter.ca

    [ Reply to This | # ]

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