SCO denied motion to dismiss Red Hat case

SCO Group Inc has failed in its attempt to dismiss Red Hat Inc's request for a declarative judgment as to whether its Linux operating system infringes SCO's intellectual property, although the case has been delayed while SCO's action against IBM Corp is ongoing.

By CBR Staff Writer

Raleigh, North Carolina-based Red Hat launched its case in August 2003 following numerous statements from Lindon, Utah-based SCO that Linux contains elements of its Unix System V code.

In response, SCO filed a motion to dismiss Red Hat’s request in September arguing that Red Hat had failed to establish an actual controversy between the two companies and that it had made no legal threats against Red Hat or its customers.

The judge hearing the case at the US Court in Delaware has rejected SCO’s motion to dismiss, according to a court filing published at Groklaw, but has introduced a memorandum staying the case pending a resolution of SCO’s ongoing case against IBM.

That case is still in the discovery stage and is not scheduled to go to trial until April 11, 2005. SCO and Red Hat will keep Judge Robinson updated on the status of SCO vs IBM via a letter every 90 days, and the Court may consider reigniting Red Hat vs SCO in the event that the IBM case is not proceeding in an orderly or efficient fashion.

This article is based on material originally published by ComputerWire