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SCO Invokes DMCA, Names Headers, Novell Steps In

Posted by simoniker on from the ruckus-and-tomfoolery dept.

Sparky writes "We've already heard that SCO have invoked the DMCA via 'letters sent to select Fortune 1000 Linux end users.' The specifics come via a copy of the letter reprinted at LWN.net - they've decided that they own the copyright to about 65 header files contained in Linux - largely errno.h, signal.h and ioctl.h." balloonpup also notes "CNet News has reported that SCO has reported a fourth quarter loss of $1.6 million, owing mostly to hefty legal fees in its war against Linux. SCO said they would have reported $7.4 million in earnings, if not for the $9 million payout to their lawyers. Way to go, SCO!" Many readers also point out a Groklaw article indicating Novell has registered for the copyrights on multiple versions of Unix with the U.S. Copyright Office, so that "both the SCO Group and Novell have registered for UNIX System V copyrights for the same code."

15 of 770 comments (clear)

  1. clue me in.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    arent the headers (especially some of those, like errno.h) published publically as ISO/ANSI C and/or UNIX Definition documents? Hence, if they look similar, it's because they're defined standards from various standards committees? Perhaps someone should point out the document name and number and page numbers.

    1. Re:clue me in.... by msgmonkey · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Generally all those C/Unix headers come under general umbrella of POSIX compliance. I think what they are saying is that the files are directly lifted from BSD and that the settlement with BSD forbode redistribution.

      This is strange in that 1) the full outcome of the settlement was sealed AFAIK and 2) the headers in question are licensed under the BSD license which would have been known of in 1.

      Like has been mentioned earlier by many people here, maybe SCO want to re-open the BSD case as this seems to be there only line of defense.

  2. I feel so dirty but... by nocomment · · Score: 5, Interesting

    GO NOVELL! GO IBM! :-) It may seem strange, but I really am feeling some sort of loyalty to these two companies. I am way more likely to use them in future than I think I would have before the whole SCO debacle. Although I'd still never ever in the coldest darkest hour in hell use netware or AIX again(blech).

    --
    /* oops I accidentally made a comment, sorry */
    /* http://allyourbasearebelongto.us */
  3. checking out insider holdings by greechneb · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Larry Gasparro is the last to cash out with nearly $500k in December - Look at the latest holdings of the insider roster

    BENCH, ROBERT K.
    Chief Investment Officer
    8-Oct-03 214,243 Shares Left

    BROUGHTON, REGINALD CHARLES
    Senior Vice President
    17-Sep-03 95,000 Shares left

    GASPARRO, LARRY
    Vice President
    10-Dec-03 0 Shares Left

    HUNSAKER, JEFF F.
    Vice President
    13-Aug-03 20,494 Shares Left

    OLSON, MICHAEL P
    Vice President
    11-Nov-03 47,330 Shares Left

    WILSON, MICHAEL
    Senior Vice President
    14-Jul-03 0 Shares Left

    WILSON, MICHAEL SEAN
    Senior Vice President
    15-Jul-03 0 Shares Left

    Notice How little the insiders still actually own (Aside from Robert Bench)? Smells fishy to me

  4. not just Linux... by TheSHAD0W · · Score: 5, Interesting

    SCO has now asserted ownership over not just Linux, but every single C/C++ compiler out there, and every OS based on C, including the BSD variants and all the other versions of Unix out there.

  5. SCO admitted ABI code was GPL by cmcguffin · · Score: 5, Interesting

    In this interview from February, SCO themselves claimed the ABI code was GPLd:

    MozillaQuest Magazine: Regarding binfmt_coff, abi-util, lcall7, abi-svr4, abi-sco; are any of these modules SCO IP?

    Blake Stowell: No, none of the code in the Linux ABI modules contains SCO IP. This code is under the GPL and it re-implements publicly documented interfaces. We do not have an issue with the Linux ABI modules. The IP that we are licensing is all in the shared libraries - these libraries are needed by many OpenServer applications *in addition* to the Linux ABI.

  6. The FreeBSD file says: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    From /usr/include/sys/ipc.h

    * Copyright (c) 1988 University of Utah.
    * Copyright (c) 1990, 1993
    * The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
    * (c) UNIX System Laboratories, Inc.
    * All or some portions of this file are derived from material licensed
    * to the University of California by American Telephone and Telegraph
    * Co. or Unix System Laboratories, Inc. and are reproduced herein with
    * the permission of UNIX System Laboratories, Inc.
    *
    * This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by
    * the Systems Programming Group of the University of Utah Computer
    * Science Department.
    *
    * Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
    * modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
    * are met:
    * 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
    * notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.

    The Linux code I just looked at is lacking the copyright notice like the above.

    If taken from BSD or SYSV, it is a licence violation because of clause #1.

  7. Re:That's what usually happens by msobkow · · Score: 5, Interesting

    A lot of those delays stem from the simple fact that legal staff usually haven't got the vaguest understanding of how software is architected or compiled. They don't know that half the headers mentioned are part of ANSI and ISO C/C++ standards.

    They don't know that every single platform with a C compiler since the early '80s has had an "errno.h" header file.

    It's about time some limits were imposed in US courts, as in:

    You have 12 months to prepare your case, unless the defending party opts to extend. Under no circumstances may the preparation extend beyond 24 months. Should your claims prove false, you will be responsible for all legal costs and damages direct and incidental, not only for the defendant, but for any business in the court's jurisdiction whose financial performance can reasonably be presumed to be affected by the accusations.

    Then maybe the world can get back to doing business instead of letting these useless "IP companies" affect billions of dollars of purchase and deployment decisions, without fear of repercussions for their fraud.

    --
    I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
  8. Novell can now sue SCO! by codepunk · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Now isn't this funny, Novell can sue SCO former Caldera for copyright and contract breach. Caldera placed the old SYS V code under a open source license and made it available for download. So what gave Caldera the right's to do this if the code is Novell's?

    Makes for Interesting Thought!

    --


    Got Code?
  9. What happened to '4 quarters of profitabiity'? ... by compactable · · Score: 5, Interesting
    ... previous pump-n-dump speculation mentioned that there needed to be 4 quarters of profitabliy before Darl got a big bonus kick-in - this appears not to have happened. Am I missing something obvious, was this 100% fabrication, or did Darl get nailed here?

    Thanks for clarifying, if possible

  10. Re:DMCA Must gooo! its gayer than the YMCA by Jerf · · Score: 5, Interesting

    How about instead of patching the law with new special cases for electronic media, we recognize that the law is fundamentally broken and come up with coherent answers for the general case?

    We've passed the point where the law can be patched back into usefulness; it's time to rethink on a more fundamental level.

  11. Headers by tiny69 · · Score: 5, Interesting
    So SCO is claiming ownership of a bunch of #define, #ifdef, #ifndef, and struct statements. What happened to the millions of lines of code that Linux was infringing on? Even IF (big if) they can prove ownership of those files, about all they can claim is Copyright infringement. I don't see how trade secrets, methods, or know-how (SCO's words since they can't claim anything stronger) can be found in header files.

    The lawsuit against IBM is still a contract dispute. Even though SCO claimed they would be adding Copyright infringement claims against IBM, they have yet to do so. My guess is they haven't made any Copyright infringement claims yet because even they are not 100% sure if they really own any of the code. And making false claims in court would kill their lawsuit.

    When Caldera first obtained the old UNIX source code, they wanted to release ALL of it under an Open Source license. But they were not able to because to many other people and companies still have rights via Copyright to the code the other parties added.

    The letter that SCO is sending out is just one more thing that will come back to haunt them.

    --
    Go not unto/. for advice, for you will be told both yea and nay (but have nothing to do with the question)
  12. That's What I Figured All Along by Inode+Jones · · Score: 5, Interesting
    A few months ago I took a guess as to what the misappropriated IP was, and the only thing I could come up with is errno.h, signal.h and syscall.h.

    Linux was/is a derivative of Minix. There is no real Minix code left in Linux, but back in the 0.9x days, Linux was still evolving. You can still download Minix from here.

    Now, here's the key point: although the NAMES of the various system calls, IOCTLs, error numbers and signals are part of the POSIX standard, their numeric assignments are not. The implementor is left to define them. Not all implementations define these the same way - take a look at the Linux/FreeBSD/SYSV emulation code in NetBSD to see the kinds of translations that need to be done to provide cross-platform compatibility.

    Now compare the Minix include files with those of Linux and FreeBSD. You will notice very much the same error code and signal numbers. The Linux code dates from 1991 and is pre-ATT/BSDI settlement. It's likely that Tannenbaum is also in violation of AT&T's IP, and Linux has just inherited it. Of course, there's no money in SCO suing Tannenbaum.

    Does this damage SCO? Not really. Is it worth US$699/seat? Definitely not. Can SCO collect damages? Probably, knowing the U.S. legal system.

  13. Re:DMCA Must gooo! its gayer than the YMCA by GrenDel+Fuego · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I disagree.

    The DMCA also makes it illegal to "pick the lock" as well, not just the creation of the tool to pick the lock. And it doesn't distinguish between locks you own and locks you don't own.

  14. This is just too good to be true by Kjella · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Linux header:
    #define EPERM 1 /* Operation not permitted */
    #define ENOENT 2 /* No such file or directory */
    #define ESRCH 3 /* No such process */
    #define EINTR 4 /* Interrupted system call */
    #define EIO 5 /* I/O error */
    #define ENXIO 6 /* No such device or address */
    #define E2BIG 7 /* Arg list too long */

    And the POSIX standard says:
    The [errno.h] header shall provide a declaration for errno and give positive values for the following symbolic constants. Their values shall be unique except as noted below.
    [EPERM]
    Operation not permitted.
    [ENOENT]
    No such file or directory.
    [ESRCH]
    No such process.
    [EINTR]
    Interrupted function.
    [EIO]
    I/O error.
    [ENXIO]
    No such device or address.
    [E2BIG]
    Argument list too long.

    Conclusion:
    This is hogwash. Complete and utter hogwash. Even the descriptions are specified in the standard. You see some minor differences (Argument vs Arg, function vs system call) but it is simply trivial. If this is the "infringing" stuff, the replacement with completely non-infringing comments would be ready in about 30 seconds directly from the standard. I can volunteer to do a cleanroom implementation without neither SCO nor BSD code :p.

    Kjella

    --
    Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings