[d@DCC] Re: Your Visit to SCO, the GPL, and FLOSS law/public policy.

From: Ian Lance Taylor <ian _-at-_ airs.com>
To: Russell McOrmond <russell (at) flora.ca>
Cc: General Copyright Discussions <discuss -_at_- digital-copyright.ca>
Date: 26 Jun 2003 09:17:21 -0700
References: <Pine.LNX.4.44.0306261054550.1958-100000@calcutta.flora.ca>

Russell McOrmond <russell@flora.ca> writes:

>   Since SCO has nothing to loose given they were/are likely to go bankrupt
> anyway, I wonder if they are simply setting themselves up as a
> sinking-ship legal test case for a number of uncertainties in software
> law.

This may be the effect of what SCO/Caldera is doing, but I'm sure it
is not their intent.  They are trying to make money from a failed
software company by exploiting the legal system however they can.  I
suspect SCO/Caldera was hoping for a settlement from IBM, although
they have not gotten that as yet.  I suspect that SCO/Caldera will
announce a Linux licensing program, and, in essence, sell Linux users
the right to not be sued.

>   While SCO/Caldera can no longer be taken seriously as a software
> company, I do believe we should all be taking the legal and public policy
> implications of this case very seriously.  This case may cause many
> unanswered questions to get answered, and if we are not proactive they may
> not be answered in what we would consider a reasonable/logical way.

I agree.

Ian
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