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IBM Subpoenas Several Companies in SCO Case
bl8n8r writes "IBM subpoenas are flying. Morgan Keegan, EV1, Oracle, Royce, CAI, Center7, Novell, Canopy, S2, are all asked to reveal details on all documents concerning any communications with or any meetings involving Microsoft regarding Unix, Linux, SCO and/or Canopy." Groklaw notes that even more subpoenas are likely on the way.
S2 won't give out documentation regarding microsoft as it is covered under a confidentiality agreement
with SCO
S2 doesn't even have to say what it is for THAT to be very telling.
You're my boy Blue!!!
With all these subpoenas, IBM may just be hunting for more than just evidence that SCO is completely wrong in their claims... Might even be that they're looking to get some dirt on Microsoft or bring down a few other companies with SCO.
Because they're being sued by SCO and they're gathering evidence against them?
All your documents are belong to us...
One of the comments on Groklaw asks, "Why not Baystar, RBC and Microsoft?".
I think it's likely because these are corporations that would probably resist assisting IBM, and the IBM legal team could still be working out methods for compelling each of these corporations into full testimony. RBC would likely resist, and as a Canadian Bank they can tie up the whole process for as long as they want, unless compelled by a Canadian federal court. Plus, RBC is the most profitable bank in Canada, so they have billions in pocket change to throw at the fight, need be.
BayStar confirmed that Microsoft was connected to SCO, but maybe they have some kind of legal reason not to help? Or maybe the public facts are enough?
Trying to get documents from Microsoft in connection to SCO would likely be a huge legal undertaking, so that might be what's slowing things down. IANAL, but if Microsoft, BayStar and RBC joined the fray, wouldn't they have the power to somehow stop the whole process, or slow it dramatically as a joint force? You have to be extremely delicate when handling companies with track records like Microsoft. Maybe IBM's legal team is getting as much data as they can from corporations who won't put up much of a fight, before Microsoft comes in and shuts everything down.
The dangers of knowledge trigger emotional distress in human beings.
How long has it been since we have seen any progress in this case? Finally IBM has stood up and started getting real evidence.
Normally I have no favoritisms towards corporations, but let's hope IBM crushes SCO once and for all with this move.
How long were you in the hospital after the head wound?
invented litigating you out of business. SCO kicked up enough dust to raise their stock price temporarily but several events have signalled that SCO is headed fast to their inevitable end.....
1. Plunging stock price
2. The Baystar admissions
If you are thinking of buying SCO stock, do it to short it. It only goes down from here. See ya in hell Darl.
IBM is the defendant, remember?
Once IBM demonstrates how you get screwed by suing them for crap, maybe some of this stuff will settle down.
"that's not encryption - it's a new perl script that I'm working on..." - from some Matrix parody
SCO has had this coming for a long time, but its sad that the 2 thing I hate (Laywers and Patents) are going to bring them down.
This is kind of like seeing the school bully being hit by a bus - you are internally elated, but its not a pretty sight and you feel pretty sick afterwards.
Oh, well - as long SCO gets taken out, that's all that matters
You can't expect to wield supreme executive power, just because some watery tart threw a sword at you
CNN story
Jory
... anyone else looking forward to the day when SCO's ''office'' is just a smoking field of rubble, their execs are all in jail, and anyone who had their fingers in this pie is up to their necks in subpoenas and/or SEC/FTC probes?
I can imagine IBM wanting to make that happen. Sorta the corporate equivalent of hanging corpses outside of a medieval town as a warning to others.
Go back, as they say. Remember how Microsoft, as a small startup no one had heard off, sold a third-hand operating system to IBM, profited enormously, and then went on to replace IBM as the world's #1 IT superpower?
Perhaps IBM simply think it's time for a payback. Ironic that if it were successful, this payback would also be 'aided' by a third company (SCO in this case), isn't it?
I hear there's rumors on the Slashdots
Reading this, it sounds like a very nice turnaround from IBM. Now it looks to me (IANAL) that SCO & Co. have the potential to be exposed for the evil no-gooders that they are. I can imagine the piles upon piles of Microsoft anti-linux related communication (or should i say fud?) that has accumulated with these companies over time. This could be the real meat that is needed to really shake up this monopoly led industry.
...
In an ideal world anyway!
nick
Electronic Music Made Using Linux http://soundcloud.com/polyp
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) :
Subpoena \Sub*p[oe]"na\, n. [NL., fr. L. sub under + poena
punishment. See Pain.] (Law)
A writ commanding the attendance in court, as a witness, of
the person on whom it is served, under a penalty; the process
by which a defendant in equity is commanded to appear and
answer the plaintiff's bill. [Written also subpena.]
If you mod this up, your slashdot background will turn into a beautiful sunset!
The thing is, last time I checked, IBM had never stopped development of new software and products. They have never stopped creating and selling innovative technology. A legal department is necessary for any large business. However, it only beceomes a problem when you are spending a disproportionate amount of employee time and revenue on legal proceedings. Anyone who has been following the SCO case knows that, based on the amount of information they've put out regarding their products vs. the amount they've put out regarding their legal case, they're clearly in the latter category. Same goes for their public financial filings. These elements clearly point to a company in its death throes wanting desperately to get bought out. Nothing about IBM's behavior indicates that they are in similar straits.
it's a good thing....I think it's to prove that there's something foul in the air (and no, CowboyNeal didn't have a burrito); aka Microsoft is using SCO to further it's anti-competitive practices, which can in turn be used against SCO.
I don't think companies that are being sued or threatened to be sued by SCO would say no to IBM's requests, as it is in their interests to help the one who has the bigger army of lawyers. Basically, the subpoenas are a legal formality; in case there's a non-disclosure agreement (a subpoena is a legal way of taking a peek without breaking that NDA), so the companies don't get sued by SCO/Microsoft for disclosing the agreement.
Fight fire with fire....this case, lawyers with lawyers. The only issue is that since SCO seem to have a secret ally/live-line (Micro$oft), hence IBM's move to possibly expose the foulplay by Microsoft, which will get M$ in hot water with the anti-trust settlements.
...I think IBM is looking to not only crush SCO (that they already know they'll do), but now they're trying to find leads suggesting this is a smear campaign.
While I doubt they're going to find condemning evidence, I don't think it'd take much to open another antitrust case against Microsoft. Along with the recent EU findings, I don't think they'd like that at all.
Kjella
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
SCO is basically a puppet for interests that can't be seen as directly attacking the Linux business. Smashing SCO would not be a significant discouragement to those interests. They'll just find another sock puppet. IBM is just following the money. Dumb bulls charge the cape (SCO). Smart bulls go immediately for the matador.
If you read the others that focus mainly on communications with SCO, it looks like IBM is just being complete or simply curious; the case be dammed, who knows what this net will drag in?
That said, I am fully willing to consider that Microsoft is behind the SCO/Baystar/... mess strictly as an abuse of the market.
A firewall can not protect you from yourself. Turn off what you do not need. Do not use the firewall to do your work.
If you're wondering why companies like EV1 and Oracle are on there, here some food for thought: (IANAL)
Oracle is currently not paying SCO for a license along the same lines as EV1. IBM knows this and want to find out why companies like Oracle are bound to a different agreement on licensing than other companies like EV1.
Basically, IBM *knows* there is something fishy going on with SCO's licensing and plans on pointing it out in court. If any of you have any correspondence with SCO regarding their licensing, I would highly suggest contacting IBM and willingly giving it over, as it will only help their case.
There are two other reasons for the subpoenas that I can tell: 1) IBM wants to dispel the myth that you have to settle with SCO in order to avoid subpoenas. 2) IBM is most likely using this round to prepare for a second round of requests to appear in court. They are doing this to probably scare Microsoft out of ever trying to thwart Linux and Linux development again.
I think they see SCO's case is about to dry up and blow away and they want to get as much out of this as they can before that happens (if they are unsuccessful at convincing the judge to not dismiss the case at SCO's request (which I believe is coming)). I believe IBM wants to keep this case going so they can get a judgement in their favor, not simply a dismissal but an actual judgement. I think they believe MS is involved and they're seeking evidence to support that belief. If they can prove that MS paid SCO to litigate Linux then IBM will have an extremely strong set of feet to stand on when they oppose dimissing the case. That's what I believe is happening.
It's possible that IBM's legal team knew all along, but on the face of it those Baystar documents that Raymond posted seem to have provided a breech for IBM to charge into.
Kudos to him and his source.
Kill, Tux, kill!
sPh
Since it's fashionable to quote Sun Tzu and because it's applicable here, I'll have a few shots at it:
"Let your plans be dark and as impenetratable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt."
"All warfare is based on deception. Therefore, when capable, feign incapacity; when active, inactivity."
"Subtle and insubstantial, the expert leaves no trace; divinely mysterious, he is inaudible. Thus he is a matter of his enemy's fate."
And of course, the greatest:
"What the ancients called a clever fighter is one who not only wins, but excels in winning with ease. Hence his victories bring him neither reputation for wisdom nor credit for courage. He wins his battles by making no mistakes. Making no mistakes is what establishes the certainty of victory, for it means conquering an enemy that is already defeated. Hence the skillful fighter puts himself into a position which makes defeat impossible, and does not miss the moment for defeating the enemy. Thus it is that in war the victorious strategist only seeks battle after the victory has been won, whereas he who is destined to defeat first fights and afterwards looks for victory."
"So unmerciful is life, that everything afterwards is too late."
So not only can the elephant tap-dance, it can also play chess? ")
For the past few years I've had this vision of a an IBM TV commercial I's like to see:
Scene: Godzilla rampages through town smashing buildings with MS, SCO and other rivals logos on them. People run screaming through the streets like so many cockroachs. Uses breath weapon to roast fleeing individuals who have a suprising resemeblence to Gates, Ballmer, McBride etc.
Voice Over:IBM, we're back and we're pissed...
fade out
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
It is good advice, the best advice and the one piece of advice you should always take. DON'T SAY A THING. Let the lawyers talk. They are trained for it and if they are any good they will say the absolute minimum as well.
We have two recent and excellent examples of people who didn't take this bit of advice. Martha Stewart. They didn't get her on her crimes but got her because she didn't keep her mouth shut and lied to cops. A big nono.
The other is of course Darl "Leghorn" McBride himself. Baystar is reclaiming their investment because Darl just can't keep his mouth shut. Baystar is not against the lawsuit, they love the lawsuit, they just want it to be fought out in the courts where there is a change of SCO winning (or at least they like the odds on it) rather then being fought out in the streets and press where SCO is only loosing.
So wishing for IBM to make public statements is like wishing for the CIA to have press annoucements about the deployments of secret agents. Ain't gonna happen.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.