Linux Journal: SCO NDA Offers Little Information, Much Risk

“On May 14, SCO VP Chris Sontag offered to show evidence of
SCO’s infringement claims against Linux, under a non-disclosure
agreement, to an independent panel of experts. SCO has released the
text of the agreement, and we include it below.

“Dan Ravicher, an attorney who specializes in free software and
open-source issues at the firm of Patterson, Belknap, Webb &
Tyler, said in an interview there are three key problems with the
NDA. First, Ravicher said, ‘SCO can pick and choose among all its
evidence’ to show only the parts that back up the company’s claims.
‘They’re agreeing to let you see the half of the picture that they
want you to see,’ he added.

“Second, the NDA does not exclude information that the recipient
obtained in ways other than from SCO. If SCO showed a patent or
other public document to someone bound by the NDA, that person
would not be allowed to discuss it even if he or she had been
previously aware of it, Ravicher said. ‘The definition of
confidential information is much larger than I’ve seen in any other
agreement,’ Ravicher said. ‘It covers a lot of stuff that wouldn’t
be, by a textbook definition, confidential…'”

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