Software company Novell said yesterday that claims by The SCO Group to own the copyrights to the Unix operating system were unfounded.
SCO has alleged that companies, including IBM, have abused its intellectual property rights by taking code from its Unix operating system software and including it in a derivative version of the software called Linux.
Linux is the major rival to Unix and Microsoft`s Windows software. In recent years it has overtaken Unix in the marketplace, mostly because Linux distributors charge little or nothing for the core software and instead make their money on modifications, services and maintenance.
In a statement Provo, Utah-based Novell -- which sold the Unix technology to SCO in 1995 -- said SCO never owned the copyrights and patents to the Unix software. It also said SCO had shown no evidence that companies had included certain Unix code in Linux.
"We believe it unlikely that SCO can demonstrate that it has any ownership interest whatsoever in those copyrights," Novell CEO Jack Messman said in the statement.
SCO conceded that Novell did still own the patents to the software, but it said it owned the contracts and as such it had the contractual right to prevent improper donations of the Unix code, methods or concepts into Linux.
"From a legal standpoint, contracts end up being far stronger than anything you could do with copyrights," it said.
Shares of SCO closed down $2.11, or more than 24%, at $6.60 on the Nasdaq. Novell gained 13c, or 4.3%, to $3.13.
Intent to sow fear
Unix was developed in the 1960s by AT&T, although the majority of big computer companies -- including Sun Microsystems, IBM and HP -- licensed the technology and developed their own version of the software.
The product was sold to Novell in 1992, which in turn sold the technology to SCO in 1995. SCO made the first version of Unix to work on computers that use Intel chips. It also helped IBM develop its own version of Unix, called AIX.
But with the growth of Microsoft`s Windows software and the advent of Linux as a popular alternative to Unix, SCO struggled. It eventually sold the technology to Caldera, a distributor of Linux, which now calls itself The SCO Group.
In addition to suing IBM for breach of contract in March, SCO has also recently sent a letter to 1 500 of the world`s largest corporations informing them that their use of Linux may be in violation of SCO`s software rights.
In his statement, Messman called on SCO to substantiate its allegations against the Linux community. Absent such action, "it will be apparent to all that SCO`s true intent is to sow fear, uncertainty, and doubt about Linux in order to extort payments from Linux distributors and users," Messman added.
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