The Lindon, Utah-based Linux vendor once again filed the details of its alleged evidence under court seal, but did state that it had identified 293 separate technology disclosures which SCO contends are improper. That was an increase on the 217 disclosures previously identified by SCO as it met the interim deadline of October 28.
According to SCO, the filing with the Utah District Court reflects the pervasive extent and sustained degree as to which IBM disclosed methods, concepts, and in many places, literal code, from Unix and Unix-derived technologies in order to enhance the ability of Linux to be used as a scalable and reliable operating system.
SCO originally sued IBM in 2003, claiming that Linux contained code from its Unix System V code base but backed away from misappropriation of trade secrets claims against IBM in favor of breach-of-contract claims.
SCO claims that all Unix code developed by Unix System V licensees should be considered a derivative of Unix System V according to its reading of AT&T Corp’s original licenses. IBM disagrees and previous Unix System V owner Novell Inc supports its view.
Novell has also challenged SCO’s assertion that it is the owner of Unix copyrights, claiming to have retained Unix copyrights when it sold its Unix business – including the System V code base it had acquired from AT&T – to Santa Cruz Operation Inc. Santa Cruz Operation sold its Unix business to Caldera in May 2000 before latter changed its name to SCO Group and launched its lawsuit against IBM.
A five-week jury trial hearing SCO’s claims against IBM is not scheduled to begin until February 26, 2007, and in the meantime SCO’s revenue continues to decline. The festive period also saw the company publish financial results for its fourth quarter and fiscal year ended October 31.
A decrease in revenue saw SCO’s fourth-quarter revenue slide 15.4% to $8.5m from $10.1m a year ago thanks to shrinking Unix revenue, although a net loss of $3.4m was an improvement on the year-ago loss of $6.5m.
President and chief executive, Darl McBride, was enthused by a return to profitability for the Unix business in full fiscal 2005. For the full-year SCO reported revenue down 34.2% year-on-year to $36.0m, although the net loss of $10.7m was at least an improvement on a net loss of $16.2m a year ago.
