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DAILY NEWS AND INFORMATION
FOR THE GLOBAL GRID COMMUNITY / AUGUST 25, 2003; VOL. 2 NO. 34
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Special Features:
OSDL RELEASES Q&A ADDRESSING LEGAL
ACTIONS BY SCO GROUP
The Open Source Development Lab (OSDL), a global consortium of leading
technology companies dedicated to accelerating the adoption of Linux, released
a Q&A paper written by noted technology law and intellectual property expert
Lawrence Rosen. The paper asks and answers key questions about SCO Group's
current lawsuit against IBM and about its threatened litigation against users
of Linux. The Q&A paper is designed to help Linux users with information to
better understand the legal issues in this case, and to help them evaluate
their own position with respect to SCO's demand for license fees from
companies that continue to use Linux.
In his paper, Rosen identifies some of the legal issues raised by the SCO
Group's claims as they relate to Linux development and usage. He does not
offer legal advice, but rather frames some of the key questions that companies
should ask their own counsel about their use of Linux. He points out that SCO
has a long way to go before it can assert broad intellectual property claims
against an operating system that was written by thousands of open source
programmers worldwide.
"As we have noted before, we see no evidence that end users are slowing
down
their Linux implementation plans because of SCO's actions," said Stuart Cohen,
OSDL CEO. "Mr. Rosen's paper is designed to help users assess whether or not
they need to purchase a license to use Linux. We want all those in the Linux
industry to know OSDL's position on this issue: Absent clear, open and
publicly available evidence that using Linux violates rights that SCO has not
already freely conferred by distributing Linux under the GPL license over the
course of several years, there is real doubt as to whether end users should
purchase a license from SCO."
Key issues covered in Rosen's paper include:
- Extent to which the Linux operating system is involved in SCO vs. IBM
- Extent to which any single entity has copyright control over Linux
- Assessment of impact SCO vs. IBM may have on users of Linux
"The real legal issue in this case is between two companies, not between a
software provider and end users, nor between a company and an operating
system," Rosen says. "Users should be completely informed of their rights and
obligations, if any, before they take steps to purchase a software license
they may never need."
To read the entire paper, please visit the OSDL Web site at
http://www.osdl.org/docs/qa_re_sco_vs_ibm.pdf or
http://www.osdl.org/.
Lawrence Rosen is founding partner of Rosenlaw & Einschlag, a technology
law
firm, with offices in Los Altos Hills and Ukiah, California. He also servers
as general counsel and secretary of Open Source Initiative, which reviews and
approves open source licenses and educates the public about open source
issues.
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