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Australian Linux User Group Fights Back Against SCO
ashitaka writes "The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting that an Open Source group has gone on the offensive in response to SCO's latest demands that Linux users must buy a Unixware license to avoid any possible future unpleasantries. 'Open Source Victoria today filed a complaint with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, asking it to investigate SCO's activities in light of 'unsubstantiated claims and extortive legal threats for money' against possibly hundreds of thousands of Australians.' I especially like the last bit: 'One feels that this whole fiasco is the IT industry equivalent of a Nigerian scam or internet extortion ploy.' Oh yeah.."
From the website:
"OSV is a marketing, advocacy and focus group, which aims to raise the profile of Open Source Software (OSS) in Victoria."
Ven. Jhanrato
You can file a complaint supporting OSV at http://www.accc.gov.au/about/fs-contact.htm - look for the complaint form.
Dear Sir / Madam
As the representative of a small business (XXXXXX) I am writing to support a recent complaint filed by the Open Source Victoria regarding the actions of the SCO Group.
SCO is making unspecific and unsubstantiated claims that it owns copyright pertaining to the Linux PC operating system. It is asking any companies using Linux to purchase licences or face the threat of legal action.
Would you please investigate the claims that SCO is making so that small businesses and other companies are not pressured into making unwarranted payments.
Sincerely,
:wq
In Germany, SCO was already stopped by a court to continue unproven claims about copyright violation in Linux - on the grounds of law against unfair/untruthful marketing.
If the Australians are successful with their complaints, then hopefully North Americans will be at last inspired to do similarly.
Because this is a battle of credibility at the moment. With no actual evidence on the loose, people will believe what appears to be the most credible information. The more people that fight and the fewer that roll over for SCO, the better it will be for the Linux community.
The more Linux groups fight back, the more the casual and business users will disregard the threats from SCO. The more dignified resistance we put forward, the more credibility the non-computer press will give us. I think this is great news coming in from Australia.
Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see. - Mark Twain
As someone who works down the hall from the people at the ACCC who will end up handling these complaints, I should probably mention that they generally prefer contact by phone, rather than over the website's complaint form.
The number is 1300 302 502.
They'll want to ask you questions, and in theory they will just call you back if you put a complaint in through the web.
A sign that clearly shows how successful the legal action against SCO Germany was is SCO Germany's website.
And I can tell you, SCO is going to get even more big problems with the assertion that SCO will license Linux to companies. Since SCO doesn't own the complete copyright to Linux, licensing it under a different license than the GPL and earning money with these licenses is a crime in Germany and Europe. This can get the CEO of SCO Germany 2 years in prison.
A monkey is doing the real work for me.
I'm not much of a writer for this kind of stuff; but I hope this link will make others interested to the possebilities!
Yes. A court ordered SCO not to make these claims against Linux until they could be proven in a full court case. To avoid a public court case in Germany, SCO signed a contract saying that they will pay 250.000 Euro if they continue such claims and took their German web site off-line.
A German article with Babelfish translation, another English article.
Several people submitted this story at the time, but somehow it got rejected.