[Linux-aus] sco.de scotched (at least for now)

[Chris Samuel]

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On Thursday 05 Jun 2003 2:14 pm, Greg 'groggy' Lehey wrote:

> On Thursday,  5 June 2003 at  8:16:23 +1000, Chris Samuel wrote:
>
[...]
> > Interesting, I was about to write that the site was still there because
> > you still get the front page from it when you go there, but then I
> > clicked on the "Presse" link and got an Apache 404 error.
>
> Looks like they're still changing things.  I can access that page now.

Yeah, it's back, wierd..

> The interesting thing is that they have *not* retracted their
> statement.  Specifically, http://www.sco.de/SCOsourcePM.html still
> claims
>
>    Bad Homburg - 14. Mai 2003. Als Inhaber der UNIX-Urheberrechte
>    warnt The SCO Group (Nasdaq: SCOX) davor, dass Linux ein nicht
>    autorisiertes Derivat von UNIX sei.
>
> In English:
>
>    As owner of the UNIX copyright [note: that's not correct], The SCO
>    Group warns that Linux is an unauthorized derivative of UNIX.

Very naughty indeed.

> I wonder what's going to happen now.  It looks to me as if the press
> report is wrong.

I wouldn't be so sure about that.

> The Abmahnung set a date of 30 May, last Friday, to
> stop their claims.

Correct.  That would have been Thursday night out time.

> Only then can they apply for an injunction (einstweilige Verfügung). 

Which, according to the press reports, was an appearance in front of a judge 
in an ex-parte situation because SCO didn't get around to responding in time, 
and who made the decision that if SCO didn't stop then they could be fined up 
to 250,000 euros.

> Judging by the LinuxTag web site
> (http://www.linuxtag.org/2003/de/press/press.xsp) they haven't done
> that yet.

I just think they haven't written about it yet.

> The report said that an injunction was granted last week, so I suspect
> that the reporter is confusing the terms Abmahnung and einstweilige
> Verfügung.

Nah, the reports were pretty clear about it being in front of a judge:

	http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,1113022,00.asp

	The SCO Group was dealt a legal blow Friday in its attempts to enforce
	what it sees as violations of its Unix intellectual property rights when a
	German court granted a preliminary injunction against the company. 

	Joe Eckert, spokesman for SuSE Linux A.G., said the court has ordered
	SCO to stop claiming that the Linux operating system is an illegal derivative
	of Unix. "If SCO ignores the court's order, it faces a fine of up to 250,000
	euro," he said. 

	But Ryan Tibbitts, SCO's in-house general counsel, on Friday said that
	the German court had just issued a temporary restraining order against
	the company. The legal action was brought against SCO by a number
	of Linux associations, including LinuxTag. This was also an ex parte
	proceeding, which meant the court has not heard any arguments from
	SCO's side, he said. 

So I'm pretty certain that it has gone further than just the initial warning.

> Anyway, there's one way to find out.  I'm copying Andreas Gebhard, the
> press contact of LinuxTag, who should be able to give us more details.

Cool, look forward to hearing from him (I won't try any of my schoolboy 
German, I promise!).

Chris
- -- 
 Chris Samuel  :  http://csamuel.org/  :  Melbourne, VIC

 Need someone with 10 years of Linux, Unix, Networking
   & IT Security skills in Melbourne, VIC ? Email me.

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