Jerry Feldman wrote:
On Tue, 14 Aug 2007 01:28:10 -0800 John Andersen <jsa@pen.homeip.net> wrote:
Novell has already donated any portions of unix that exist in linux. Novell also accepted the GPL (v2). Therefore its successors and heirs also are bound by this. Its a done deal. Nothing in linux infringes on Unix except by Novell's permission.
Absolutely false. Certainly Novell has waived its copyright claims WRT Linux, but you forget the SCO vs. IBM. There are 3 products that IBM contributed to the Linux kernel, JFS, NUMA, SMP. These 3 are "derivative works", and by interpretation of the IBM-AT&T license, they could possibly belong to SCO. Actually, SCO claims that the Linux version of JFS was developed for AIX, but IBM claims it is the OS/2 version. So, while the SCO vs. IBM case is still pending, there is still infringement. Additionally, SCO does own the copyrights of things they have developed, but I don't think that is in their claim. In the IBM case, SCO has been sanctioned for not being specific.
Additionally, I believe that Novell accepted GPL 3, but the Linux kernel is still GPL 2.
IBM developed JFS for OS/2, so SCO can't claim it. No matter if there was some SVx code in Linux, since SCO doesn't own the copyright, it's not their battle. If there is any SVx in Linux, Novell (SUSE) is legally distributing it under GPL, as they own the copyright. SCO's definitition of "derivate work" was simply beyond belief and in stark contrast to what they claimed WRT to their own work, after the Novell agreement. Since SCO has failed to identify any potentially infringing work and it's to late to add more, they haven't got anything to sue about now. -- Use OpenOffice.org <http://www.openoffice.org> -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org