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From: Santa Cruz Operation Legal Dept.
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.setup
Subject: Linux Users $699 License Fee is Now Due and Enforceable
Date: 5 Aug 2003 20:20:31 GMT
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SCO Announces Intellectual Property License for Linux
8/5/2003 12:43:00 PM

LINDON, Utah, Aug 5, 2003 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- The SCO
Group, Inc. (SCOX) , the owner and licensor of the core UNIX(R) operating
system source code, today announced the availability of the SCO
Intellectual Property License for Linux(R). The run-time license permits
the use of SCO's intellectual property, in binary form only, as contained
in Linux distributions. By purchasing a SCO Intellectual Property License,
customers avoid infringement of SCO's intellectual property rights in
Linux 2.4 and Linux 2.5 kernels. Because the SCO license authorizes
run-time use only, customers also comply with the General Public License,
under which Linux is distributed.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/19990421/SCOLOGO ) 

SCO announced in July that it had registered the copyrights to its
software releases of UNIX System V and UnixWare(R) with the U.S. Copyright
office and that it would offer licenses to cure the SCO IP infringement
issues for Linux operating systems. Beginning this week, SCO will start
meeting with commercial Linux customers to present the details of this
right to use SCO intellectual property binary licensing program.

"We have identified numerous files of unlicensed UNIX System V code and
UNIX System V derivative code in the Linux 2.4 and 2.5 kernels," said
Chris Sontag, senior vice president and general manager of SCOsource, the
intellectual property licensing division of SCO. "We believe it is
necessary for Linux customers to properly license SCO's IP if they are
running Linux 2.4 kernel and later versions for commercial purposes. The
license insures that customers can continue their use of binary
deployments of Linux without violating SCO's intellectual property
rights."

Pricing and Availability 

SCO will be offering an introductory license price of $699 for a single
CPU system through October 15th, 2003. Pricing for multiple CPU systems,
single CPU add-ons, desktop systems and embedded systems will also be
available. Linux users who are interested in additional information or
purchasing an IP License for Linux should contact their local SCO sales
representative or call SCO at 1-800-726-8649 or visit our web site at
http://www.sco.com/scosource .

About The SCO Group 

The SCO Group (SCOX) helps millions of customers in more than 82 countries
to grow their businesses with UNIX business solutions. Headquartered in
Lindon, Utah, SCO has a worldwide network of more than 11,000 resellers
and 4,000 developers. SCO Global Services provides reliable localized
support and services to all partners and customers. For more information
on SCO products and services visit http://www.sco.com .

SCO and the associated SCO logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of
The SCO Group, Inc., in the U.S. and other countries. UNIX and UnixWare
are registered trademarks of The Open Group in the United States and other
countries. All other brand or product names are or may be trademarks of,
and are used to identify products or services of, their respective owners.

SOURCE The SCO Group 

Blake Stowell of The SCO Group, +1-801-932-5703,
bsto...@sco.com ; or Dave Close, Avi Dines, or Brian Willinsky, all of
Schwartz Communications, +1-781-684-0770, s...@schwartz-pr.com , for The SCO
Group
/Photo:  NewsCom:  http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/19990421/SCOLOGO
AP Archive:  http://photoarchive.ap.org
PRN Photo Desk, +1-888-776-6555 or +1-212-782-2840

http://www.sco.com/scosource

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From: Steve Martin <ecp...@bellsouth.net>
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Subject: Linux Users $699 License Fee is Now Due and Enforceable -- NOT!!
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Santa wrote:

> LINDON, Utah, Aug 5, 2003 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- The SCO
> Group, Inc. (SCOX) , the owner and licensor of the core UNIX(R) operating
> system source code, today announced the availability of the SCO
> Intellectual Property License for Linux(R). The run-time license permits
> the use of SCO's intellectual property, in binary form only, as contained
> in Linux distributions.

This is on the face of it illegal, amounting to nothing more than an attempt
at extortion. SCO has yet to demonstrate that it in fact owns copyright to
any of the code in the Linux kernel (in fact, it flatly refuses to show 
which
code supposedly infringes except to persons signing an NDA), the case
has not yet been heard in court nor will it be until sometime in 2005, and
until it has been determined in court that their allegations are true 
SCO has
no more right of ownership of any code in the Linux kernel than do I, and
no more right to sell licenses for use of this code than do I. (As a 
matter of
fact, a German court has taken notice of this very fact and has issued an
injunction against SCO Germany that prevents them from asking
Linux users for license fees until the case is settled, and complaints
against SCO have been filed toward this same end with Australian 
authorities.)

Even if there is SCO property improperly included in the kernel, the end
user is no more liable than would be a person who buys a newspaper that
contains a plagiarized story. The crime would have been committed by the
party committing the plagiarism.

Until the courts decide, I remind SCO what the Irish New York cop said 
to Osama
Bin Laden...


-- 
Steve Martin, CPBE CBNT