From the ‘Indemnify Me’ files:
In March of 2003, SCO Group filed a lawsuit against IBM over Unix trade secrets.
Ten years later, it’s a legal dispute that is still alive.
Groklaw – a site that got its start because of the SCO case – and a site that is still very much alive was the first to report on the re-opening of the case.
Many people had thought this case was over at multiple points in the past. For me personally, the biggest milestone of the last 10 yrs of this legal battle came in March of 2010. That’s when SCO was defeated (for the nth time) but in that case it was over the ownership of the Unix copyrights.
The final ruling in that episode of the saga was that Novell still owns the copyrights. So the logical thinking there is that if Novell owns the copyrights, how can SCO sue anyone over infringement over said copyrights?
The new ruling re-opening this case states:
On or before July 15, 2013, IBM may file a new motion for summary judgment limited solely to the effect of the Novell judgment on the remaining claims and counterclaims.
So the zombie that is SCO still lives, without a leg to stand on mind you – but it’s still there.
Sean Michael Kerner is a senior editor at InternetNews.com. Follow him on Twitter @TechJournalist.
