Novell challenges SCO

Posted May 28, 2003 16:01 UTC (Wed) by Baylink (guest, #755)
In reply to: Novell challenges SCO by southey
Parent article: Novell challenges SCO

Yes, it *does* change the basis of the suit.

In civil litigation, there is a concept known as "standing" -- do you have
"standing to sue" another party? The concept is analogous to that of "an
insurable interest" in that industry -- if you don't have an insurable
interest in someone or something (by relation, employment or ownership)
you won't be allowed to take out an insurance policy on it.

A similar concept applies here -- if SCO is merely a licensee of the
copyrights in the Unix sources, any duty they might have to file suit over
their release would be subrogate to the actual *owner* of those
copyrights, which in this case is apparently Novell.

Note: IANAL, I just play one on the 'net.