Slashdot Mirror
SCO Wants to License Europe
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.
I had a company named SCO...
It died!
It died!
McBride said they owned Unix...
He lied!
He lied!
Why oh why is my company dead?
Couldn't IBM lawyers sue me instead?
I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate.
Now not only can they be slaughtered in the US courts, but the rest of the world can get in on picking them apart too!
~~ Please keep your arms, legs, and outright stupidity inside the ride at all times. Thank You ~~
...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...
How much for France? Good food, hot chicks... I'm there.
"I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey
The U.S.-based SCO has yet to successfully get Americans to buy into their licensing scam. I do not see why any European countries would either.
I suspect that SCO will be mocked and laughed at by the Europeans just the same as we Americans do. Finally! A humor that transcends boundaries!
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
"We are Linux. Resistance is measured in Ohms."
I can hear that conversation ....
...
Darl: I'm not gonna get my stock options. Who else can we sucker into buying our protection racket?
Sontag: Let's try Europe!
Ralph: Yeah, they don't know nothing about source code and licenses and stuff
Darl: Yeah!
The SCO stooges strike again. If they think the laws are harsh in the US, they would do well to remember the smack down they received in Germany.
Is it:
a. stupidity?
b. greed?
c. utter arrogance?
d. all of the above?
The BBC has the news as the lead article under the Techology section, which means it's linked off the front page. It's largely a "state of play" article, but does makes the point that SCO has already tried this in the US and had few takers and is yet to sue. Doesn't take much reading between the lines to see they are saying "don't bother paying", without compromising their neutrality... ;)
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
filed lawsuites here in the USA, and we would be reading stories about the suite and the defendents.... but they aren't serious, they haven't filed any suites against linux users here. They are pumping and dumping their stock, and Darrell's scrapbook of news stories... again.
Running with Linux for over 20 years!
> Linux is a Penguin, not a tiger!
:')
Well, yes, but having a tiger by the tail is a lot more painful than having a penguin by the tail, unless the penguin's friends dogpile on you. Which, I suppose, is not a bad simile for what's happening. Nevermind.
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.
...will be trying this licensing shit in Russia.
EVERYBODY knows you don't invade Russia. It screwed Napoleon, it screwed Hitler, and it's going to screw McBride.
"Why Subscribe?" Good question...
"Europe collectively has just extended their arms and given SCO the middle finger! It's a beautiful sight, Charley."
Background: 28/M/Bi-Sexual; Owner of a Linux company; MBA Harvard 2003; B.S. Comp Sci MIT 2000
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
Jeez, what part of "attempt no landing there" didn't they get?
Oh, wait, that's Europa. Never mind.
When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a skull.
I come from Europe, been in most Western-European countries and I think that Europe as a whole is not so much 'tainted' with patent-protection. Good thing. European companies will probably use SCO's letters as toilet paper, or piss on it.
As a last resort there is the totally undemocratic but ever-so power-gaining European Commision which just declared open-source The Way To Go. What they'll probably do is (1) look at SCO's web site (2) see how mean looking that CEO is and (3) revert SCO letters to the trash bin. Also remember that the EU commision is quite happy to hand out 'fines' of hundreds of millions of dollars to whatever company that makes them cross. Yes.. sometimes semi-dictatorship is advantageous.
(Disclaimer: Not my auction, not related.)
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
There isn't enough crack in the world to explain this...
JWall: GUI client for IPTables
for SCO to lose in the US and Europe?
The company should be broken into a billion tiny 1's and 0's and sprinkled into the fires of Mount Doom.
I'm laughing at clouds.
Is the Russian Winter...
WARNING! Do you own a car, know how to read, or view photographs? Then you may be using some of my intellectual property, and I may file a lawsuit against you, claiming hundreds or even billions in damages.
Are you concerned? YOU SHOULD BE! Intellectual Property Theft is one of the most notorious crimes facing life on this planet. Terrorists often use Intellectual Property Theft to further their own evil goals. Stealling my intellectual propery is unAmerican.
What can you do? Well, you can either give up on life, or you can buy a license from me! Feel comfortable driving, reading, or seeing things. Have no fear of turning into an unamerican terrorist. And all it costs is $350 per person!
Isn't that a fair price for a piece of mind?
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.
0 3/
:->
There is an article about that on heise.de: http://www.heise.de/newsticker/data/jk-15.01.04-0
"We are not even allowed to talk about it" said an SCO-spokesman over IDG NewsService. Poor SCO
Scene at french castle as sco's lawyers arrive looking for their money
Frenchman 1: Uh c'est sco.
Frenchman 2: Quoi?
FM1: Les litigious bastards
FM2: Ohhhh...oui! sco.
FM1: Fetchez le vache!
FM2: Uhhh?
FM1: Fetchez le vache
Mooing noise. Cow is seen flying over wall of french castle. Sco's lawyers run away screaming "run away. run away".
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."
SCO will expand its licensing program to all european foreign dictionaries in the near future.
A quick seach shows that the english version of /usr/share/dict/words alone already contains
1613 words, which illegally include the SCO trademark. Examples are diSCO(tm)mfort,
diSCO(tm)mmodity, MoSCO(tm)w.
SCO, in the attempt to protect its trademark, and the legitimate interests of its stock owners, will sue everyone who uses any of these words without permission.
Right now, the legal department of SCO is reviewing european word lists, and is expecting to find a huge amount of diSCO(tm)ompliance to the trademark and IP laws.
cpghost at Cordula's Web.
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.
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.
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.
Meanwhile, bystanders will be murmurming to each other:
The French fought valiently in WW2. Unfortunately the Germans were a vastly superior military and quickly overwhelmed the French army. However the French didn't simply give in, despite a puppet gov't being installed. Instead they continued to fight back as the French Resistance. Many brave Frenchmen (and women) died battling the Nazi's who'd taken over their country.
This cliche is false, and its been beaten to death. Let's put it to rest.
C - A language that combines the speed of assembly with the ease of use of assembly.
And it's called the GPL.
.sig away, earning rent.
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.
--
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.
Ok I've been following along with this story for quite awhile now and I personally believe sco is going to lose the case. It should be the end of the company at that time. Now I was just at the nasdaq site looking to see how the recent news has affected sco. While there I started looking into some of it's numbers and found that overall if I knew nothing about the company everything looks pretty good. Hell they even went from losing money to having an actual earnings/share in the past year. There stock is ranked as being an average risk and there is both a buy rating and a sell rating in the analysis. Something worth $250,000,000 could be worth $2 in less then 30 days time and it's an average risk?
This leaves me wondering just how many other stocks out there are rated so highly based off of a hope and prayer? Is the entire system this easily manipulated?
It's time to turn "sco" into a generic noun and a generic verb.
Noun definition: "a loser who resorts to deceitful or coersive tactics due to a lack of imagination or principles." Synonymous with "scumbag." Also, "a fraudulent or coercive scheme." Synonymous with "scam."
For example, "That sco tried to rip me off!" and "Don't fall for that, it's just a sco."
Verb definition: "to deceive or coerce someone, or obtain something through deceit or coersion, due to a lack of imagination or principles, or a combination of laziness and greed." Synonymous with "to screw."
For example, "They tried to sco me, but I didn't fall for it."
There's a certain poetic justice in this. SCO is trying to take something that belongs to *all of us* and make it exclusively *theirs*. Turning their name into a generic noun and verb, turns the tables and makes something that is/was "theirs" into something that belongs to *everyone*. Best part is, they can't stop it!
What's the difference between Darl McBride and a car battery?
A car battery has a positive side!