MESSAGE
| DATE | 2003-08-20 |
| FROM | From: "Inker, Evan"
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [hangout] Two on Backfire of SCO's "Smoking Gun"
|
Bottom Line: AT&T incorporated (aka 'Stole")UCB code from the DARPA Project
into their Unix OS and then tried to sue UCB and BSDI from releasing it
under the BSD License. Now SCO, who is sueing IBM, is trying to assert IP
and copyright on BSD Code which AT&T originally stole back in the 1970 and
1980s'.
UPDATE: Linus Torvalds claims SCO 'smoking gun' backfires
August 20, 2003
URL:
http://www.zdnet.com.au/newstech/enterprise/story/0,2000048640,20277500,00.h
tm
SCO's display of code it alleges was copied into the Linux kernel by IBM --
a piece of evidence critical to its US$3 billion lawsuit against Big Blue --
has come under fire from Linus Torvalds and Linux advocates who claim the
code shown was released under an open-source licence several years ago.
The ruckus erupted when SCO showed its "smoking gun" to delegates at its
conference in Las Vegas yesterday. A German journalist photographed some of
SCO's presentation slides, despite attendees being required to sign
non-disclosure agreements before attending the event. The slides then came
under the full scrutiny of Linux advocates, with one, former Hewlett-Packard
open source strategist Bruce Perens, publishing a damning analysis online.
Perens claims the code can be traced to AT&T, which developed the Unix code
eventually sold to SCO, and was written as far back as 1973. Since then it
has been released under varying licences as open source code -- Perens
argues that even Caldera, the company now known as SCO, made the code open
itself under a special license.
Furthermore, he said, it was released under the BSD license. Copies of the
BSD code are freely available online and include the developer comments SCO
allege were proof of code theft. "No violation of SCO's copyright or trade
secrets is taking place," Perens argues.
Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux, told ZDNet Australia by e-mail the
alleged blunder wasn't a surprise. "Hey, that was what we claimed was the
most likely source of common code from the very first time," he wrote.
"So one code snippet was from pretty much original Unix -- and yes, Caldera
released the old Unix code itself back when they still remembered that they
made all their IPO money off Linux -- which is interesting partly because it
shows how SCO has been lying all along: they said several times how they are
talking about SysVr4 code, not 'old Unix' code, and now they show old Unix
code on their slides."
"The other snippet they showed was apparently from the 'netfilter' code,
which is not old Unix, but is definitely BSD licensed and freely usable," he
added.
While Perens says the SCO team did a good job of finding duplicated code,
"they didn't take the additional step of checking whether or not the code
had been released for others to copy legally".
"It strikes me that SCO would show their best example. This is it?!?!? Hoary
old code from 1973 that's been all over the net for three decades and is
released under a license that allows the Linux developers to use it with
impunity? If this is their best example, they are bound to lose."
When AT&T took BSD to court back in 1992 in a case that is similar to the
SCO lawsuit, AT&T, in the form of Unix System Laboratories, lost.
"Since Plaintiff has failed to provide enough evidence to establish a
'reasonable probability' that Net2 or BSD/386 contain trade secrets, I find
that Plaintiff has failed to demonstrate a likelihood of success on the
merits of its claim for misappropriation of trade secrets. No preliminary
injunction will issue," the final judgement read.
SCO undercuts its Linux case
Presentation fuels doubts on its suit
By Los Angeles Times, 8/20/2003
http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2003/08/20/sco_undercuts_its_l
inux_case
The software company that claims to own key pieces of the free Linux
operating system undermined its case this week by displaying samples of the
disputed code -- which critics then traced back to a decades-old program
released with few restrictions.
SCO Group Inc. set off a firestorm this year by suing IBM Corp., alleging
that the firm improperly contributed SCO-owned code to Linux. For years, SCO
and its predecessor have owned the rights to much of Unix software, which
much of Linux imitates.
SCO's lawsuit angered supporters of Linux, who feel strongly that the
software -- developed by programmers who donated their efforts -- should be
free. SCO has been countersued by IBM. Another lawsuit by Linux distributor
Red Hat Inc accuses SCO of trying to scare off Linux users.
SCO has pressed Linux users to sign a licensing agreement in order to avoid
being sued.
The conflict took an odd turn Monday in Las Vegas, where SCO is hosting a
conference for its Unix users. During a slide show presentation on the
lawsuit, SCO executives displayed identical lines of code from Linux and
from SCO's flagship version of Unix, known as System V. They wanted to show
that the Linux code was an illegal copy of System V.
An audience member took pictures, which were published on the website of a
German computer magazine. Although some of the lines had been rendered in
Greek letters for the presentation, technologists studied the pictures and
translated them back. The result, they said, was code dating back as far as
1973, before SCO came into being.
Since Lindon, Utah-based SCO later bought the rights to old code, that
wouldn't destroy SCO's legal case. But it doesn't help the firm's claim that
its most sophisticated intellectual property has been used to make Linux
robust enough for corporate computers. SCO, though, was steadfast. "Their
assertions are incorrect. The source code is absolutely owned by SCO," said
Chris Sontag, a company spokesman.
(c) Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company.
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