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Claimed Proof That UNIX Code Was Copied Into Linux
walterbyrd writes "SCO's ex-CEO's brother, a lawyer named Kevin McBride, has finally revealed some of the UNIX code that SCO claimed was copied into Linux. Scroll down to the comments where it reads: 'SCO submitted a very material amount of literal copying from UNIX to Linux in the SCO v. IBM case. For example, see the following excerpts from SCO's evidence submission in Dec. 2005 in the SCO v. IBM case:' There are a number of links to PDF files containing UNIX code that SCO claimed was copied into Linux (until they lost the battle by losing ownership of UNIX)." Many of the snippets I looked at are pretty generic. Others, like this one (PDF), would require an extremely liberal view of the term "copy and paste."
Sorry, Jane. You are wrong. Not your fault, really, since you are just repeating what you've been told many times over the years. But it is wrong.
Your appeal to socialist Russia as an example of why copyrights are needed is laughable. The Soviet system failed mainly for many reasons, but lack of copyright recognition wasn't one of them.
The fact is that the idea that copyrights and patents are a benefit to society is based on no evidence at all. It is one of those ideas that were accepted for a long time without being examined in any detail. There are many examples of places and times where copyrights and patents did not exist and innovation there certainly was not harmed, and careful studies have found pretty good evidence that innovation was helped by their absence. The site techdirt.com discusses these issues regularly, frequently pointing to academic research in peer reviewed journals so you can check out the research yourself if you don't trust the reporting. But you don't have to depend only on research. There are examples today where industries thrive in the absence of copyrights or patents. One easy to understand example is the fashion business. No copyrights or patents. Lots of copying, yet good money is being made by many players. And there's certainly no lack innovation there.
It certainly is true that eliminating copyrights and patents would be kind of disruptive, since some large businesses have come to depend on the artifical monopoly authorized by copyright and patents. But there is reason to believe that we would be better off now had they never been invented. Whether the disruption that would come from eliminating them is reason enough to keep them is questionable. I am pretty sure we would quickly adjust to their absence if they were abolished tomorrow, and be better off, on the whole. Of course, that is unlikely to happen because our government is bought and paid for by the businesses that depend on copyrights and patents, so we will have to suffer the burden of these government-granted monopolies for some considerable time to come.
Header files are public - but they seldom contains any advanced functionality. They are just a definition of the calls available, defined data types and constants.
If the header files didn't contain the same (or very similar) definitions then the API wouldn't work. I expect the same header definitions to reappear in many other operating systems with minor differences - many even in Windows (Which do have a Posix API)
But of course - a lawyer wouldn't understand that, it's just a question of money.
If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
This was the first time I had a chance to see any of their "evidence". How exactly did this make it all the way to court?
Especially given that "original" files appear to have been altered to contain comments to the effect that a USL copyright statement somehow proves that the information is "UNPUBLISHED PROPRIETARY SOURCE CODE" together with a meaningless statement about the existance of a copyright statement not implying publication.
It looks as though they have "mailmerged" part of their claims into their supposed evidence. Shouldn't this have resulted in the judge throwing this out as null and void?