[ Thanks to Craig
Oda for this release. ]
BEAVERTON, OR, August 14, 2003 – The Open Source Development Lab
(OSDL), a global consortium of leading technology companies
dedicated to accelerating the adoption of Linux, today released a
Q&A paper written by noted technology law and intellectual
property expert Lawrence Rosen. The paper asks and answers key
questions about SCO Group’s current lawsuit against IBM and about
its threatened litigation against users of Linux. The Q&A paper
is designed to help Linux users with information to better
understand the legal issues in this case, and to help them evaluate
their own position with respect to SCO’s demand for license fees
from companies that continue to use Linux.
In his paper, Rosen identifies some of the legal issues raised
by the SCO Group’s claims as they relate to Linux development and
usage. He does not offer legal advice, but rather frames some of
the key questions that companies should ask their own counsel about
their use of Linux. He points out that SCO has a long way to go
before it can assert broad intellectual property claims against an
operating system that was written by thousands of open source
programmers worldwide.
“As we have noted before, we see no evidence that end users are
slowing down their Linux implementation plans because of SCO’s
actions,” said Stuart Cohen, OSDL CEO. “Mr. Rosen’s paper is
designed to help users assess whether or not they need to purchase
a license to use Linux. We want all those in the Linux industry to
know OSDL’s position on this issue: Absent clear, open, and
publicly available evidence that using Linux violates rights that
SCO has not already freely conferred by distributing Linux under
the GPL license over the course of several years, there is real
doubt as to whether end users should purchase a license from
SCO.”
Key issues covered in Rosen’s paper include:
- Extent to which the Linux operating system is involved in SCO
vs. IBM - Extent to which any single entity has copyright control over
Linux - Assessment of impact SCO vs. IBM may have on users of
Linux
The real legal issue in this case is between two companies, not
between a software provider and end users, nor between a company
and an operating system, Rosen says. Users should be completely
informed of their rights and obligations, if any, before they take
steps to purchase a software license they may never need.
“To read the entire paper, please visit the OSDL Web site
at:
http://www.osdl.org/docs/qa_re_sco_vs_ibm.pdf
http://www.osdl.org/docs/qa_re_sco_vs_ibm_html.html
Lawrence Rosen is founding partner of Rosenlaw & Einschlag,
a technology law firm, with offices in Los Altos Hills and Ukiah,
California (www.rosenlaw.com). He also servers as general counsel
and secretary of Open Source Initiative (www.opensource.org), which
reviews and approves open source licenses and educates the public
about open source issues.