Weekly edition	Kernel	Security	Distributions	Contact Us	Search
Archives	Calendar	Subscribe	Write for LWN	LWN.net FAQ	Sponsors

Releasing unix code

Posted Aug 17, 2007 11:27 UTC (Fri) by Gady (subscriber, #1141)
Parent article: A bad day for the SCO Group

The thoughts about Novell being able to release unix code to the public are rather overstating what the court actually ruled. In fact, this whole "who owns the copyrights" debate was rather minor, considering the fact that the sale agreement between Novell and Santa Cruz (today SCO) prohibits Novell from selling any new licenses for the unix code. In short, Novell might have the copyrights but it is extremely limited by the contract as to what it can actually do with them.

(Log in to post comments)

Releasing unix code

Posted Aug 17, 2007 17:54 UTC (Fri) by brouhaha (subscriber, #1698) [Link]

However, since SCO breached the contract (by not paying Novell the license fees collected from Sun and Microsoft), it seems very likely that Novell will eventually be able to terminate the contract and regain the ability to sell licenses (or give them away).

Releasing unix code

Posted Aug 23, 2007 13:39 UTC (Thu) by Duncan (guest, #6647) [Link]

Additionally, since Novell retained the right to waive a suit, it has in
effect the right to grant licenses, at least free ones. It can't charge
(at least not directly) for licenses, but it can say that they aren't
subject to suit or fees, effectively granting the license for free that it
is forbidden to sell.

Duncan