Novell expects this week to begin offering SuSE Linux customers some legal protection for using the open-source operating system, the fourth legal umbrella to emerge from a computing industry grappling with legal threats brought by SCO Group.
Novell plans to offer the legal indemnification once its $210 million acquisition of SuSE is complete, which should take place Monday, said Novell Chief Executive Jack Messman. A $50 million investment from IBM isn't yet complete, he added. SCO's legal actions against Unix and Linux are rippling across the industry. But the Novell initiative highlights the response now under way. "It seems like there is a groundswell of support focused on pushing this issue aside," IDC analyst Al Gillen said. Hewlett-Packard also offers indemnification. Red Hat has set up a legal defense fund to protect open-source programmers. And on Monday, Intel, IBM and MontaVista Software contributed to a $10 million legal defense that the Open Source Development Labs consortium set up to protect Linux customers against SCO.
Under Novell's plan, the company will provide customers with protection from copyright infringement lawsuits to the tune of $1.5 million, or a factor of 1.25 of their software purchase price. To get the protection, customers must buy SuSE Linux and support from Novell and sign a licensing agreement, Messman said. The program defangs SCO's threats for Linux customers, said Mark Radcliffe, an intellectual-property attorney with Gray Cary. "It's going to make it more difficult for SCO to put pressure on licensees," Radcliffe said. "I assume that now Novell has done it, other people are going to have to do it, whether they like it or not." Indemnifying a customer for 100 percent of their software purchase price is common, because lawsuit damages can be based on the plaintiff's lost profit, he added.
News source: C|Net News.com
Novell plans to offer the legal indemnification once its $210 million acquisition of SuSE is complete, which should take place Monday, said Novell Chief Executive Jack Messman. A $50 million investment from IBM isn't yet complete, he added. SCO's legal actions against Unix and Linux are rippling across the industry. But the Novell initiative highlights the response now under way. "It seems like there is a groundswell of support focused on pushing this issue aside," IDC analyst Al Gillen said. Hewlett-Packard also offers indemnification. Red Hat has set up a legal defense fund to protect open-source programmers. And on Monday, Intel, IBM and MontaVista Software contributed to a $10 million legal defense that the Open Source Development Labs consortium set up to protect Linux customers against SCO.
Under Novell's plan, the company will provide customers with protection from copyright infringement lawsuits to the tune of $1.5 million, or a factor of 1.25 of their software purchase price. To get the protection, customers must buy SuSE Linux and support from Novell and sign a licensing agreement, Messman said. The program defangs SCO's threats for Linux customers, said Mark Radcliffe, an intellectual-property attorney with Gray Cary. "It's going to make it more difficult for SCO to put pressure on licensees," Radcliffe said. "I assume that now Novell has done it, other people are going to have to do it, whether they like it or not." Indemnifying a customer for 100 percent of their software purchase price is common, because lawsuit damages can be based on the plaintiff's lost profit, he added.
News source: C|Net News.com
The same uproar happened in the motion picture community. The press materials includes a lengthy chronicle of the legal battles between 321 Studios and MGM Studios, Tristar Pictures, Columbia Pictures, and other major motion picture studios. The ironic thing is, 321 Studios was apparently the first company to file any formal complaint -- with the above-mentioned studios listed as defendants.
No doubt, the same barrage of lawsuits will occur between 321 and companies like EA, Microsoft, and Vivendi Universal. That's definitely not an enviable position, as those companies do not mess around (in a litigious context). Games X Copy will be released within the next month, though how long it will be available remains to be seen. Pricing information is still to be determined.
SCO were supposed to be showing examples of the supposedly copied code in court either yesterday or maybe today.. lets see what happens.
You obviously haven't been following this story very much. Linus has asked repeatedly for SCO to identify the code so he and the others that maintain Linux can do exactly that, but SCO has refused. Unfortunately for SCO, copyright law requires them to identify the code that they have issue with and allow infringers an opportunity to remove it. If they don't, they significantly reduce the amount that they can claim for damages. The longer SCO keeps the offending code a secret, the less they can claim for damages.
wish microsoft knew this kind of helpfulness to it customers.
now this is a roadmap, ok ballmer
now this is a roadmap, ok ballmer
what he hell does that mean?
you guys need to read more tech pubs.
And if you think "helpfulness" is a roadmap, you need to read more, not them.
There aint no need.
Keep it on topic.
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