The text of SCO's "Linux license" [LWN.net]

The text of SCO's "Linux license"

Posted Aug 7, 2003 7:00 UTC (Thu) by mdekkers (guest, #85)
In reply to: The text of SCO's "Linux license" by rjamestaylor
Parent article: The text of SCO's "Linux license"

When reading the license, as well as the SCO website, it becomes very clear that the "license" is not a license at all in the way we have come to understand the word. It is a "get out of jail free" card with respect to an upcoming courtcase, and the potential fallout of that courtcase. They don claim anywhere to license you Linux, they only say that "we won't sue you over using Linux".

As such they indemnify you in the sense that they won't sue you, but at the same time, they are not going to give you a warranty over the software.

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The text of SCO's "Linux license"

Posted Aug 7, 2003 23:45 UTC (Thu) by seal (guest, #13808) [Link]

I agree -- this is a "license" which is not licensing anything.
Even a M$ EULA specifies that you are selling your soul for a license to use the software which you are about to install. This "license" specifies no concrete items; it vaguely refers to "intellectual property". For those of you who don't know, "intellectual property" is a management mantra, a catch-phrase. It means absolutely nothing in a court of law (at least not in the US, EU, or Australia). If you ever mentioned "intellectual property" to me, I'd ask you to clarify that -- is this a matter of copyright, patent, or trademark? You have very different rights under copyright/patent/trademark laws -- they are not uniform and can never be referred to as "intellectual property rights".

In short, the "license" is for people who don't know their legal rights but are easily spooked by any threat of litigation. Oh... did I just describe a "shakedown" racket?