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Impacts of the SCO Case Outside of the US?
Pecisk asks: "Maybe lot of you have already tired of discussing this, but I would like to know opinions (professional one would be very good) how much this case can have *legal* impact to Linux users/businesses in other regions like EU, Russia, Eastern Asia. I know that in many cases there's no effect of US court decisions to other countries, but how (for example) the EU patent law will take this, and in generally how much and do we have to be really worried about this case? This question is very important to me, and I guess, for other guys from non-US countries too. I want to know this also because when I have to speak about the using of Linux and free software in IT solutions and if someone argues about this case and it's impact to us, I would like to know what to answer (I'm from Latvia, Eastern Europe, we are going to vote for EU membership in September)."
I don't mean to nitpick, but the SCO claims have nothing to do with patent law, rather copyright/intellectual property law.
IBM is sure it won't stand the test of a real trial, and they are putting all their eggs in that basket, so they are pretty sure about it. Even if they aren't, and SCO wins, they'll just buy SCO out; that way, they'd only lose the real battle, that's about whether you can make money by forcing a bigger company to buy you by becoming enough of a hassle.
Got it? They got no case. Even if they did, it'd be solved by IBM buying them out.
Then again - like someone already pointed out
Even if there were some patented or otherwise somehow restricted code in some version of Linux, it doesn't hinder development at all. It'd be just dropped out and a new version without it released immediately. It's functionality would be reimplemented in other ways, pretty soon, and with pretty big wheels behind it, now that IBM et al are playing along.
I think, therefore thoughts exist. Ego is just an impression.
Maybe lot of you have already tired of discussing this...
/. has going right now. Very interesting and informative, and it is frankly pretty exciting. I hope that the /. editors keep up posting the latest on this.
/. minions. The peanut gallery of this story. Expect lots of jokes about patenting air. Also expect lots of accusations that SCO is evil. Unfortunately, few of them admit that SCO is smart as well, which it is.
Although I don't have an opinion on this specific question, I for one think that the SCO discussions are the best thing
It is starting to sound like a soap opera. For those who haven't been paying attention here are the players:
1. SCO. The bad guys. Think Alan Rickman in Die Hard. Smart, but really, really bad. Also they think they own UNIX.
2. IBM. The strong silent type. Well, they are silent, at least. They are just standing around with a big stick, not saying much. Hopefully we'll get to see some stick, before this is over.
3. Microsoft. The secret funders of SCO's evil.
4. Novell the previous *real* owner of UNIX.
5. AT+T the current *real* owner of UNIX. You would think that with something this valuable, these companies would actually know who owns it.
6. Linus. The copyright holder of the Linux name. Seems not to be either worried or interested in this debate.
6. RMS. He is the clueless wildcard. So far the only statement from his camp has been a bumbling, "It's GNU/Linux!" Nobody seems to have listened. He is definately the Ozzy of these Osbournes.
7. CmdrTaco. The guy with the gas and the matches.
8. The GPL. That horrid group of words that makes this all really interesting. Its effects are somewhere between smallpox and cholera.
8. The
That is, zero. SCO does not have a leg to stand on, and they know it. It's the only reasonable explanation why we STILL haven't even been told exactly what we're supposed to have done wrong.
It MIGTH have the impact of scaring some people, if they are sufficiently easily scared that they wet their pants when faced with a near-bankrupt desperate firm, and a 800 pound gorilla is figthing on your side.
Patent law is irrelevant, SCO has not even claimed that they own patents on anything in Linux (they couldn't, patents are public). Nor have they claimed to have copyrigth on anything in Linux. They do however claim to have a contract with IBM that prevents IBM from doing some things (unspecified ones!) that IBM then went ahead and did anyway.
They're bogus. Ignore them. Sleep calmly.
I really doubt they'll have any luck overseas.
Germany fined SCO $10000 for making threatening statements.
The message on the other side of this sig is false.
I am not a lawyer
I do not live in your country
I would have a hard time pointing to your country on a map
I do know however everything there is to know about those dirtbags at SCO
I do know everything about how Intellectual Property should work in the real world
You have nothing to worry about of course because SCO will fail in court, all though I have not signed the NDA so have no idea what evidence SCO can present, or if I have signed an NDA, couldn't tell you about it anyway
Does that just about cover it ?
I have mod points and I am not afraid to use them
...or the HURD!
Far as I have encountered, although legally US court decisions have no bearing on cases in most countries in Asia, with the exception of the "Commie" Countries, the decision made by US courts on the similar case are usually used as evidence in Asian courts, and the courts here usually come to the same ruling as the US courts because either the judges are too lazy to actually finish the trial and follow the reasoning that if the US ruled that way, its good enough for me, or some other lameass reasoning.
In high profile cases, even the commie courts can be swayed.
I highly doubt SCO would try to pull suits off in Asia other than places like Hong Kong, Korea, and Japan. Too much hassle and not enough money to be made in the other places if they win.
Piracy has been ramphant in Asia for years, if companies like Microsoft could've made money from lawsuits in Asia, they would've already done so ages ago. No point in paying millions in legal fees when the companies being sued can't even pay the settlement.
I think that the more significant war is with the credibility of the GPL. The repercussions of this case will probably not be about specific companies, but Linux adoption in general. If IBM crushes SCO in court, then the GPL *may* in the process be strangthened. But if IBM loses and has to buy out SCO, the strength of the GPL as a legally recognised license will be weakened.
Even if this weakening or strengthening is only in the US, other countries' IT industries will be influenced in a similar way, since the nature of open source is that national boundaries cannot (totally) insulate effects in one country from another.