Posted by : trraju on Apr 08, 2004 - 08:58 AM General

IBM not only seeks to have Linux-related copyright infringement charges by Utah's SCO Group dismissed, it wants a federal judge to make sure the allegations are never allowed in court again.
In the latest maneuver filed in SCO's year-old quest for a minimum of $5 billion and maximum of $50 billion in damages from Big Blue, the world's largest computer company asked U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball and Magistrate Judge Brooke Wells to reject the copyright claims "with prejudice," meaning SCO would be prohibited from refiling the same allegations.

SCO sued IBM in March 2002, claiming its proprietary Unix code had been misappropriated and distributed in IBM's Linux-based operating system products. That suit soon was followed by a SCO campaign, first domestically and then internationally, to collect licensing fees on Linux.

In addition to enraging the "open source" community that backs Linux as a freely distributed challenger to Microsoft's long- dominant commercial Windows OS, SCO has since sued Linux-supporter Novell for alleged corporate slander, and AutoZone and DaimlerChrysler for alleged Linux violations. In turn, SCO has been sued by No. 1 Linux distributor RedHat over its Unix-Linux claims.

IBM spokesman Mike Darcy declined Monday to discuss the motion. "The filing speaks for itself," he said.

SCO spokesman Blake Stowell declined comment, saying only that, "I'm sure this is something the company will address in its next legal filing."

IBM's dismissal-with-prejudice motion -- escalating an earlier bid for simple dismissal, without prejudice -- came within its response last week to SCO's most recent, amended complaint. In addition to filing its own allegations of copyright and patent violations, IBM asked the court to rule that it has not infringed on "any SCO copyright through its Linux activities . . . and that some or all of SCO's purported copyrights in Unix are invalid and unenforceable."

IBM's patent claims are related to purported infringements in SCO's UnixWare, Open Server and Reliant HA products.

Meantime, both sides face an April 19 deadline to provide each other with source codes and related correspondence. However, it is SCO's provision of evidence to back its Unix-Linux claims that could prove critical. If SCO fails to satisfy the court, the case -- tentatively scheduled for April 2005 -- could be thrown out.
bmims@sltrib.com

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