Novell Inc. reaches two-part sale deal (NY Post)

Posted Sep 15, 2010 23:05 UTC (Wed) by oompah (guest, #70141)
Parent article: Novell Inc. reaches two-part sale deal (NY Post)

Novell has lots of IP including *nix property. It is not the largest asset on their balance sheet but in the hands of a patent troll, it's a HUGE potential threat. Is there a way to save the I.P. for the community?

What about the copyrights?

Posted Sep 16, 2010 0:50 UTC (Thu) by gjmarter (guest, #5777) [Link]

I wonder which buyer would get the copyrights which SCO is still disputing in an appeal. And what are their plans for continuing in the litigation?

Novell Inc. reaches two-part sale deal (NY Post)

Posted Sep 16, 2010 1:26 UTC (Thu) by elanthis (guest, #6227) [Link] (4 responses)

They own the copyrights to UNIX. Copyrights are not patents. Violating a copyright requires actual copying of the material, not just use or application of an idea. The only way to use the UNIX copyrights offensively is to go after someone who actually really did copy the UNIX code into another product without a license. Linux has already proven itself clean in a court of law, and there's not many people left to go after who don't have a license for sure (IBM, HP, Microsoft, etc.) or are derived from the open source fork and its legitimate license (the *BSDs).

In other words, the UNIX copyrights are worthless aside from the (likely nominal) fee collected from licensees.

Novell Inc. reaches two-part sale deal (NY Post)

Posted Sep 16, 2010 4:09 UTC (Thu) by eru (subscriber, #2753) [Link] (3 responses)

Linux has already proven itself clean in a court of law,

Isn't the lawsuit which would decide this once and for all, SCO vs IBM, still on hold? SCO will probably lose badly if it ever goes forward, but nevertheless it is technically too early to say the matter is proved in court. (Disclaimer: IANAL; this is from information gathered from too many hours on Groklaw)

Novell Inc. reaches two-part sale deal (NY Post)

Posted Sep 16, 2010 9:18 UTC (Thu) by drag (guest, #31333) [Link]

Who cares enough to spend the money to complete the lawsuit. The whole thing was a ridiculous farce from the beginning and even bothering to bring it up now gives it far more credit then it deserves.

Hell bringing it up when it was happening was giving it more credit then it deserved. It was not even funny, all it was was just the actions of a once decent software company going into nuclear meltdown after IBM completely f*ked them over and they got taken over by a failing Linux corporation. It was just sick all around.

Novell Inc. reaches two-part sale deal (NY Post)

Posted Sep 16, 2010 20:05 UTC (Thu) by Ed_L. (guest, #24287) [Link] (1 responses)

No. The lawsuit that decides this once and for all is SCO vs Novell. Novell has (a) openly stated that Linux does not infringe their UNIX copyrights, and (b) simultaneously and in good faith openly distributed OpenSUSE. For going on seven years now. I'm not a lawyer, but from any practical point of view it just doesn't get any more decisive than that. If after the appeals process is over the courts with finality rule that Novell retained the UNIX copyrights at the time it openly distributed OpenSUSE, its over. Which is why SCO vs IBM is stayed pending that final determination.

Novell Inc. reaches two-part sale deal (NY Post)

Posted Sep 17, 2010 15:09 UTC (Fri) by jwarnica (subscriber, #27492) [Link]

So declaring that some action isn't wrong, and continuing to do that action for 7 years while the courts are at work means that *poof* it isn't wrong?

It is still an open question. We have a good idea what the decision will be, but until the decision has been made, the decision hasn't been made.

Novell Inc. reaches two-part sale deal (NY Post)

Posted Sep 16, 2010 8:08 UTC (Thu) by stijn (subscriber, #570) [Link]

Agreed. I think this is a dark cloud of doomsday dimensions. Anyone feeling more optimistic?