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IBM Denies Destroying Evidence in SCO Case
Rob writes "IBM Corp has denied claims made by SCO Group that it destroyed evidence relevant to
their ongoing breach-of-contract and copyright case, maintaining that SCO has had the
evidence in question in its possession since March 2005. SCO, which believes IBM breached
a contract by contributing Unix code to the Linux operating system, accused IBM of
destroying evidence in a July 2006 court filing, claiming that "IBM directed 'dozens'
of its Linux developers within its LTC [Linux Technology Center] and at least 10 of its
Linux developers outside... to
delete the AIX and/or Dynix source code from their computers.""
What's really funny about this particular SCO accusation is that they're basically accusing IBM of being careful not to accidentally put SCO's (alleged) IP in Linux, and trying to spin it as a bad thing. IBM didn't want its developers to inadvertently use AIX or Dynix code in their Linux development work, because IBM didn't want to risk revealing AT&T's trade secrets and violating their contract. So, IBM prudently directed developers who were going to work on Linux to get rid of the AIX and Dynix source on their machines prior to beginning Linux development work. Now SCO wants the court to interpret this attitude of respect for AT&T/Novell/SCO/TSG IP as bad-faith destruction of evidence.
I guess I have to admire their chutzpah.
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