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SCO Caps Legal Expenses At $31 Million

uniqueCondition points to a story on News.com, writing "With SCO's legal costs reaching $7.3 million in their most recent quarter, nearly half of the $15 million it has spent in the last five quarters, SCO can't afford this kind of litigation. They have therefore limited their payment to $31 million for the entire case and is giving their legal team a larger slice of any settlement SCO achieves. Under the current agreement, the firm's contingency payment is 20 percent of a settlement. Under the new agreement, that increases to a range of 20 to 33 percent." uniqueCondition links also to coverage at Techrepublic.com, InformationWeek and The Inquirer.

15 of 341 comments (clear)

  1. Begging to be bought out by SeanTobin · · Score: 5, Interesting
    SCO is just begging to be bought out now. Take a look at this gem from the end of the news.com.com article:
    SCO also announced its board has approved a revised shareholder rights plan designed to make a hostile takeover harder, though no such attempts are under way, McBride said.

    "Where the share prices are at now, we are concerned about somebody who would be opportunistic. What's to keep IBM or somebody else from coming in and taking (SCO) out at a much lower price than the claims you have on the table?" he asked.
    Ahh... the joys of watching scumbag companies dangle in the wind. I almost feel sorry for their shareholders.
    --
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    1. Re:Begging to be bought out by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      No, it would not make sense. Think about it: what kind of signal would that send to other crooks looking to make money out of IBM? Also, newSCO have impugned IBM's integrity with respect to IP, and that could be harmful to IBM's business if the outcome of the case leaves any room for doubt on that point.

      No, IBM needs to unequivocally beat them and then sow their fields with salt.

    2. Re:Begging to be bought out by UnknowingFool · · Score: 5, Interesting
      IBM could just buy SCO and put it out of everyone else's misery, and save money doing it. Plus, they could get the satisfaction of firing Darl McBride.

      That would be the quick and easy solution. I think IBM wants it to be painful for SCO. If IBM wins on its counterclaims of infringement, it could own SCO outright. With its portfolio of patents and copyrights and heavy purse strings, IBM could bankrupt SCO through legal battles and settlement claims. As the major creditor, IBM then owns SCO.

      It could then do worse then just to fire Darl. As the owner of SCO, it then has access to all SCO's files. If it finds any legal wrongdoing on Darl's or any other exec's part, it could pursue legal action against them for fraud, perjury, damage to the company, etc. They could then go after all of the money he's gotten so far. This would send a clearer message to anyone who might think about pulling another stunt like this.

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      Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
    3. Re:Begging to be bought out by macdaddy · · Score: 2, Interesting
      I almost feel sorry for their shareholders.

      Why? If they own SCO stock (NYSE: SCOX) and they lose money then it's their own damned fault. Don't feel sorry for people being stupid. You could make a full time job out of that nowadays. Stupid people only end up costing the rest of us in the end. If they want to make a quick buck on a pump and dump scam that's been widely debunked in investing circles then so be it. It's not our problem and we shouldn't have an sympathy for them. They're stupid.

    4. Re:Begging to be bought out by southpolesammy · · Score: 2, Interesting

      This is much the same thing I've been saying for quite some time, but one thing I haven't been able to adequately address is the possibility of a third party buying out SCO. Say someone like Microsoft.

      If you disregard the stupidity of such a purchase from an investment and liabilities standpoint, and just focus on the effects of such a buyout, you then have Microsoft putting their weight behind the motion, which could then drag out the case forever. It also protects the SCO execs from being absorbed by IBM and having their files investigated for wrongdoings. Despite the aforementioned stupidity of such a move, if Microsoft is in bed with SCO, this would be an advantageous move for bg and company to make if the possibility of IBM gaining access to information that could result in a major lawsuit against Microsoft.

      Question is could IBM or the courts prevent someone from buying SCO (other than IBM) while this lawsuit is pending? IANAL, so I'm asking non-rhetorically.

      --
      Rule #1 -- Politics always trumps technology.
  2. Question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Does anyone know why after making a post, your IP is contacted by a Slashdot-server (in my case 66.35.250.150), which makes a "GET /" request, and on success further requests to the links in the directory-index.

    Try it: post something, then watch your access_log.

    1. Re:Question by chihowa · · Score: 5, Interesting

      66.35.250.150 (resolved to slashdot.org) scanned me for open proxies after I posted. It then poked around on my webserver for a bit.

      --
      If you want a vision of the future, imagine a youtube comments section scrolling - forever.
    2. Re:Question by mortonda · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Indeed, Here's the logfile entries that showed up:

      66.35.250.150 - - [01/Sep/2004:14:15:29 -0500] "GET http://yro.slashdot.org/ok.txt HTTP/1.0" 404 1034 "-" "libwww-perl/5.76"

      [Wed Sep 01 14:15:29 2004] [error] [client 66.35.250.150] File does not exist: /home/mortonda/public_html/htdocs/ok.txt

      Sep 1 14:15:17 freedom kernel: SFW2-INext-DROP-DEFLT IN=eth0 OUT= MAC=00:50:fc:e3:9a:cc:00:04:5a:f5:c3:44:08:00 SRC=66.35.250.150 DST=192.168.1.151 LEN=60 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=51 ID=17492 DF PROTO=TCP SPT=33207 DPT=1080 WINDOW=5840 RES=0x00 SYN URGP=0 OPT (020405B40402080A1D1CAC6D0000000001030300)
      Sep 1 14:15:20 freedom kernel: SFW2-INext-DROP-DEFLT IN=eth0 OUT= MAC=00:50:fc:e3:9a:cc:00:04:5a:f5:c3:44:08:00 SRC=66.35.250.150 DST=192.168.1.151 LEN=60 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=51 ID=17493 DF PROTO=TCP SPT=33207 DPT=1080 WINDOW=5840 RES=0x00 SYN URGP=0 OPT (020405B40402080A1D1CAD990000000001030300)
      Sep 1 14:15:20 freedom kernel: SFW2-INext-DROP-DEFLT IN=eth0 OUT= MAC=00:50:fc:e3:9a:cc:00:04:5a:f5:c3:44:08:00 SRC=66.35.250.150 DST=192.168.1.151 LEN=60 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=51 ID=29239 DF PROTO=TCP SPT=33208 DPT=3128 WINDOW=5840 RES=0x00 SYN URGP=0 OPT (020405B40402080A1D1CAD990000000001030300)
      Sep 1 14:15:23 freedom kernel: SFW2-INext-DROP-DEFLT IN=eth0 OUT= MAC=00:50:fc:e3:9a:cc:00:04:5a:f5:c3:44:08:00 SRC=66.35.250.150 DST=192.168.1.151 LEN=60 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=51 ID=29240 DF PROTO=TCP SPT=33208 DPT=3128 WINDOW=5840 RES=0x00 SYN URGP=0 OPT (020405B40402080A1D1CAEC50000000001030300)
      Sep 1 14:15:23 freedom kernel: SFW2-INext-DROP-DEFLT IN=eth0 OUT= MAC=00:50:fc:e3:9a:cc:00:04:5a:f5:c3:44:08:00 SRC=66.35.250.150 DST=192.168.1.151 LEN=60 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=51 ID=61874 DF PROTO=TCP SPT=33209 DPT=8000 WINDOW=5840 RES=0x00 SYN URGP=0 OPT (020405B40402080A1D1CAEC50000000001030300)
      Sep 1 14:15:26 freedom kernel: SFW2-INext-DROP-DEFLT IN=eth0 OUT= MAC=00:50:fc:e3:9a:cc:00:04:5a:f5:c3:44:08:00 SRC=66.35.250.150 DST=192.168.1.151 LEN=60 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=51 ID=61875 DF PROTO=TCP SPT=33209 DPT=8000 WINDOW=5840 RES=0x00 SYN URGP=0 OPT (020405B40402080A1D1CAFF10000000001030300)
      Sep 1 14:15:26 freedom kernel: SFW2-INext-DROP-DEFLT IN=eth0 OUT= MAC=00:50:fc:e3:9a:cc:00:04:5a:f5:c3:44:08:00 SRC=66.35.250.150 DST=192.168.1.151 LEN=60 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=51 ID=49346 DF PROTO=TCP SPT=33211 DPT=8080 WINDOW=5840 RES=0x00 SYN URGP=0 OPT (020405B40402080A1D1CAFF10000000001030300)
      Sep 1 14:15:29 freedom kernel: SFW2-INext-DROP-DEFLT IN=eth0 OUT= MAC=00:50:fc:e3:9a:cc:00:04:5a:f5:c3:44:08:00 SRC=66.35.250.150 DST=192.168.1.151 LEN=60 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=51 ID=49347 DF PROTO=TCP SPT=33211 DPT=8080 WINDOW=5840 RES=0x00 SYN URGP=0 OPT (020405B40402080A1D1CB11D0000000001030300)

  3. Everyone loses on SCO's side by UnknowingFool · · Score: 4, Interesting
    The contigency increase only matters if SCO wins. SCO won't win. Therefore their attorneys will only get their fees paid. In the event IBM wins on any of it's counterclaims of infringement, that means SCO will have to shell out lots of money to fight it. If they're lucky IBM will settle, but I don't think IBM wants to settle. If IBM finally gets the discovery it wants, IBM might find more issues of wrongdoing.

    Then SCO has to fend off Novell, RedHat and Autozone on any counterclaims they may have. Then they all could sue SCO for slander of title, abuse of process. If the GPL holds up in court, everyone that has code in Linux (including IBM, SUSE, RedHat, etc) could sue for damages. The only winners for SCO are the execs that have cashed out. But the SEC is looking into that.

    --
    Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
  4. The worst part is... by DownWithTheMan · · Score: 5, Interesting

    They still believe they can win and are in the right... I live in Provo UT (student at BYU; yes yes I know crazy mormons blah blah blah, i totally agree)... Anyways I go to the same church ward as Ralph Yarro (Chairman of the Board of SCO, and CEO of Canopy Group)... Every Sunday I love to slam Ralphie with questions about what's going on on the SCO Titanic... He tells me over and over that they (SCO) have the moral highground and are in the right... He also says that in his heart of hearts he believes they will win the lawsuite against IBM... And after a win against IBM, he thinks the lawsuites like the ones against Chysler and AutoZone, will all just start to drop in... Whatever crack that guy's smokin'... I want some...

  5. Why would anybody want to buy SCO? by Secrity · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I find it pretty amazing that SCO has the cajones to believe that anybody would be interested in taking them over. I believe that their stock is as high as it is right now (if under $4 a share is high) only because SCO has been buying it's own stock. What do they own? They have some money in the bank, much of which they owe to their lawyers and to others; they also own a UNIX distribution that that people are not busting down the doors to buy. SCO seems to believe that they own the copyright to System V, Linux and UNIX in general; they may actually own some sort of rights to System V, but SCO's copyright claims are being contested by somed of the current owners. SCO has a number of pending lawsuits, and so far the verdicts in their lawsuits have been against them. Their anti-takeover defense is as useless as any of their other claims.

  6. SCO Boss McBride's bonus by edibobb · · Score: 3, Interesting

    At the end of FY 2003, SCO president McBride got a $755,000 bonus, more than triple his salary, for his excellent performance.

  7. Makes sense to me. by mcc · · Score: 4, Interesting

    They want to avoid people posting through open proxies since open proxies are the standard method of ban evasion by trolls. So I assume when you post, they do some quick checks to check for evidence your computer has any sort of open or web-based proxy on it.

    I assume if they hit anything, they'll either block you from posting further, or just flag you as a potential "problem user" or something. I suppose the thing to do here would be set up an open proxy on your computer and then attempt to post from it, and see if antyhing happens.

  8. Re:Basic Maths by schon · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Well here is evidence SCO knows its going to lose and the lawyers think they are going to win.

    No, this is Darl's attempt to make you *think* that the lawyers think they're gonna win.

    If you had a client on contingency, and you thought they were gonna lose, wouldn't you try to get a fixed amount of money out of them? That's what the $31M is for - it's in a reserved account that SCO can't touch until the case is over.

    The "increase" in contingency is window dressing so that Darl can tell people that their lawyers think they'll win.

    You can bet that Boies insisted on the $31M, and Darl insisted on the 33%.

  9. The law-weasels should pay 20% in countersuits by EvilAlien · · Score: 2, Interesting
    How's that for an idea?

    Hold those law-weasels accountable for 20% of any damages IBM, Red Hat or others might be awarded in return salvos at SCO. That might teach lawyers to be a bit more selective about which idiotic cases they bring to the courts.

    --
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