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SCO Wants to License Europe

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the dreaming-big dept.

MacEnvy writes "It looks like SCO isn't letting up - they've decided to expand their war on Linux to other countries. According to Internet Week, the company will be offering its Intellectual Property License in the UK and other European countries starting February 1. Whether Europeans will buy the licenses has yet to be seen." Motley Fool has chipped in on SCO's chances.

14 of 540 comments (clear)

  1. The real news here... by mellon · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ...is the Motley Fool article. A lot of people on Wall Street pay attention to them, or pay attention to people who pay attention to them. And they've said, pretty unequivocally, that things are looking very bad for SCO. That's not going to do nice things to SCO's stock price.

    Well, we'll see, of course. Past performance does not guarantee future results, et cetera...

    1. Re:The real news here... by poopie · · Score: 4, Interesting

      You're right.

      So, if Wall Street people read that, they might decide that their SCOX holdings that have lost 10% over the last 5 days no longer look so good, and start dumping.

      Perhaps _now_ would be a good time to take stock advice from Slashdot??

    2. Re:The real news here... by MuParadigm · · Score: 5, Interesting


      Problem is, a SEC filing, by SCO, today, reveals that the Bay Star / Royal Bank of Canada PIPE investment in SCO is treated as a derivative in SCO's books, such that if the stock goes down by a dollar, SCO books it as a million dollar *profit*. If the stock goes up by a dollar, it gets booked as a million dollar loss.

      The numbers are approximate, but they come from SCO's SEC filing; in other words, they're not just bullshit numbers I made up -- they're bullshit numbers SCO made up. But likely to be how SCO will book their stock variations on their SEC filings going forward.

      Anyway, this means that Darl has an interest in the stock price closing down at the end of the quarter, as he'll be able to book the loss in value as profit. It also means that he'll be interested in seeing the stock go up, damn the impact on GAAP numbers, once he gets his stock option bonus for four consecutive profitable (Pro Forma) quarters.

      By the way, it's still not clear whether Darl's bonus is based on Pro Forma or GAAP profits, but given the extent of book-cooking that took place to show a Pro Forma profit for the last quarter.... Well, I can't see why Darl would do it unless he was getting *something* for showing the Pro Forma profit, so I'm guessing that's what his future bonus is based upon.

    3. Re:The real news here... by Stephen+Samuel · · Score: 4, Interesting
      you get sent a long letter basically saying that "if you buy this stock, your throwing your money away on a what is quite possibly a scam".

      If that happened, then the nasdaq would be responsible for imforming people when a company started to look shady... they'd also be on the hook for false positives.... It's pretty unlikely that something like that will happen. On the other hand, I doubt that there are many people who don't get the story now that SCO is in a pretty sketchy position.

      I'm guessing that this is why they're goint to Europe... They're hoping that their name isn't completely trashed there (yet).

      --
      Free Software: Like love, it grows best when given away.
    4. Re:The real news here... by MuParadigm · · Score: 3, Interesting


      Actually, SCO describes it in the SEC filing as being broken into "two components", one of which is the derivative. The upshot is that they only book a million if the stock loses a dollar.

      I suspect Darl may have wanted the derivative to show an even greater profits on downward stock movement, but the new board member (Daniel Campbell?) who has accounting experience may have, umm, asked a few questions about it?

      At any rate, this accounting for the PIPE as a derivative suggests that SCO may have been telling the truth when they announced last quarter that they were delaying their earnings statement to account for the PIPE deal.

      I think I posted way back when, both here and on Groklaw, that they would structure this as a derivative, but I have to confess that I didn't foresee SCO using it to prop up their earnings in the event of a stock downturn. For some reason, I thought it would be the Canopy Group that benefited from the derivative instruent.

      Anyway, I'm not an accountant, just someone who understands math relatively well, but I'm still kind of kicking myself for missing that one. After all, a derivative usually is structured as a hedge against losses.

  2. SCO is f*cked in Europe by quigonn · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Practially, SCO is f*cked in Europe. In Germany, they are not allowed to say anything about their "intellectual property" or their license. Should they try out anything similar in any other European country, they can expect to get f*cked the very same way they were f*cked in Germany. Oh, I love European legislation... it doesn't give fraudulent companes like SCO any chance.

    --
    A monkey is doing the real work for me.
  3. SCO insider trades by Big+Bob+the+Finder · · Score: 5, Interesting

    A list of the transactions taken by SCO's top brass since December is very telling. Sell, sell, sell. 1/07/04 THOMAS P RAIMONDI Director 11,841 Proposed Sale (Form 144) estimated proceeds of $213,138.00 1/07/04 THOMAS P RAIMONDI Director 11,841 Open Market Sale proceeds of $210,189.59 1/07/04 THOMAS P RAIMONDI Director 11,841 Exercise of Stock Options at cost of $13,261.92 12/29/03 R DUFF THOMPSON Director 10,000 Proposed Sale (Form 144) estimated proceeds of $173,400.00 12/29/03 R DUFF THOMPSON Director 10,000 Open Market Sale proceeds of $174,860.00 12/10/03 LARRY GASPARRO Divisional Officer 25,000 Proposed Sale (Form 144) estimated proceeds of $371,500.00 12/10/03 LARRY GASPARRO Divisional Officer 6,640 Open Market Sale proceeds of $100,190.25 12/10/03 LARRY GASPARRO Divisional Officer 6,640 Exercise of Stock Options at cost of $7,436.80

  4. Europe? Not everwhere by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    They couldn't sell or advertise their IP-license in Germany, because before they can do so, they have to prove that there is SCO-code in linux.

    There is an article about that on heise.de: http://www.heise.de/newsticker/data/jk-15.01.04-00 3/

    "We are not even allowed to talk about it" said an SCO-spokesman over IDG NewsService. Poor SCO :->

  5. Re:IANAL by dexterpexter · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I am not completely familiar with this, but I believe that there is a general agreement in place that the international community attempts to enforce other countries' copyright violations. I believe that this was part of the Berne Convention (http://www.wipo.int/clea/docs/en/wo/wo001en.htm), assuming that you consider code a literary or artistic work which, in many cases, code is considered due to outdated laws in need of revision.

    What SCO is doing here, however, is reprehensible. A company with any integrity would first legally prove that they own a copyright and give the offending parties a chance to correct said mistake, not try to build a business model out of lawsuits. What is worse is that SCO is not only making a business model out of lawsuits, but they are profiting through soliciting licensing from people to whom they owe proof of infringement, but refure to give!

    I suspect that the international community will laugh at SCO when they try to enforce an unproven (and unlikely) claim of copyright violation.
    Its becoming even more apparent that this is just a product of sleazy business tactics.

    But the short answer to your question is that, if SCO were to prove (which they have yet to do) their claims, the international community might likely try to uphold that. However, they do not have to except in good faith. If they really wanted to, they could simply look at Mr. McBride and say "Bite me." Mr. McBride is setting SCO up to be crushed. Its just unfortunate that they can make money (by bullying with threats of licensing fees and lawsuits) through pumping and dumping their stock.

    --

    *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
    "We are Linux. Resistance is measured in Ohms."
  6. Re:SUSE by petabyte · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Yes, but I believe SUSE is/(are being) aquired by Novell and that group has already thrown their weight into the ring.

    I kinda find the SCO thing funny as the more people they pester, the more end up joining the fight against them. Novell, IBM, OSDL has a lot of big names involved with it. They're doing quite well I think.

  7. SCO's just the diversion, what' really going on? by Proudrooster · · Score: 4, Interesting

    To me it is becoming apparent that the SCO fiasco against IBM and Linux is a diversion, which is covering up something even more insidious. SCO isn't even trying with respect to the court case and is focused mostly on making as much noise and involving as many parties as possible? Anyone have any guesses or insights as to what we might be missing?

    Could it be as simple as ego? Is Bill Gates paying Daryl to replace him as the most hated man in high tech or, is this simply a scam to scare people away from using Linux? I just have a sinking feeling that the true enemy is about to sneak up behind us. Maybe I'm just paranoid but maybe, just maybe, I'm not paranoid enough.

  8. Job opportunities at SCO by iamnotaclown · · Score: 5, Interesting

    http://www.sco.com/company/jobs/

    I kid you not:

    Software Engineer (05 Nov 2003)
    Internal Audit (21 Nov 2003)
    Director of Financial Reporting (08 Dec 2003)
    Inside Sales Manager (09 Jan 2004)
    Senior Software Engineer (13 Jan 2004)

    Kinda tells a little story, doesn't it. :-)

  9. I already have a license by Mentorix · · Score: 4, Interesting

    And it's called the GPL.

    Speaking as an admin for some 130 linux boxes in The Netherlands I can assure SCO that they will be wasting their time. Mr. McBride can go and stick his license where the sun don't shine.

    The second they start spewing their bullshit over here I will not be surprised when they get sued for slander (like in Germany), I know of several companies over here that are already preparing a combined legal strategy in case SCO starts getting uppity. There are a lot of large hosting providers and ISP's/ASP's around Amsterdam who rely heavily on Linux, there's no way they will allow SCO to intterrupt their business.

    Actually, I can't wait for SCO to enter the justice system, dutch courts are very wary of corporate greed at the moment.

    -- .sig away, earning rent.

  10. Hope your portfolio isn't awash with SCOX by mabu · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Speaking of stock, 30+% of SCO stock is held by mutual funds and other institutional owners, so if you believe that SCO is going to lose this case, which seems likely, expect all the shareholders to take huge losses when this stock sinks. A look at the history of their stock shows it's way over-valued anyway. If you have annuities or mutual funds, you really need to find out if they have SCO in their portfolio cause you're going to get burned!

    Capital Guardian Trust Company 1,177,800 8.51 $16,288,974 30-Sep-03
    Integral Capital Management Vi, LLC 316,600 2.29 $4,378,578 30-Sep-03
    Royce & Associates, Inc. 1,441,200 10.41 $19,931,796 30-Sep-03
    Integral Capital Management V, LLC 246,730 1.78 $3,412,275 30-Sep-03
    Empire Capital Partners LP 205,000 1.48 $1,961,849 30-Jun-03
    Barclays Bank Plc 174,686 1.26 $2,415,907 30-Sep-03
    Bjurman, Barry & Associates 160,000 1.16 $2,212,800 30-Sep-03
    ING Investments, LLC 143,100 1.03 $1,979,073 30-Sep-03
    Oberweis Asset Management Inc. 112,000 0.81 $1,548,960 30-Sep-03
    Whitney Asset Management LLC 76,967 0.56 $1,064,453 30-Sep-03

    More details HERE.