Novell-SCO trial now is in hands of judge
2 companies arguing over software revenues from Unix technology
U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball in Salt Lake City will decide on whether SCO owes Novell nearly $20 million for SCO's licensing of certain technologies several years ago.
The two companies had argued over ownership of the Unix operating system and UnixWare software copyrights, but Kimball ruled last year that Novell was the owner. Novell is now seeking revenues that SCO received from Microsoft Corp., Sun Microsystems Inc. and other Fortune 1000 companies when SCO licensed certain Unix technology to them.
The Novell-SCO dispute was an offshoot of another SCO lawsuit, against International Business Machines Corp., filed in 2003. SCO accused IBM of improperly placing proprietary Unix code into Linux, an open-source operating system that competed with Unix.
Arguments this week focused on how much value to attribute to the licensed technology. Novell claimed that technology it controlled — several versions of Unix System V — was a valuable part of the SCO licensing initiative. SCO, however, contended that the licensed technology contained mostly UnixWare and OpenServer, which it owns, rather than System V, and therefore Novell's interests represent "no significant value." SCO also said versions of System V may have been "incidentally" licensed along with UnixWare technology.
The outcome of this week's trial could have a bearing on bankruptcy proceedings in Delaware. SCO filed for bankruptcy protection last September and Stephen Norris & Co. Capital Partners LP has said it wants to negotiate to buy SCO's assets.
SCO's lawsuit against IBM is stayed because of the bankruptcy but could be reopened.
E-mail: bwallace@desnews.com
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