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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.

6 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 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.

  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. 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."
  5. 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. :-)