SCO's day of reckoning is set
http://www.linux-watch.com/news/NS5150465938.html
On April 29, SCO will finally have its day in court, but not exactly in
the way the Unix and Linux litigation company had planned. If things had
gone the way SCO wanted, it would be facing IBM to see how much money it
would get for IBM using Unix code in Linux. Instead of that fantasy coming
true, SCO will be trying to hang on to what's left of its assets from
Novell.
U.S. District Court Judge Dale Kimball has already ruled on the heart of
the issue. On Aug. 10, 2007, Kimball ruled that Novell, not SCO, owned
Unix's IP (intellectual property). With that key card taken away, SCO's
never-very-steady card house of lawsuits began falling.
Novell immediately moved to stop SCO in its tracks and collect the money
SCO owed it from its Unix IP sales. SCO then tried for the relatively safe
haven of bankruptcy.
SCO had hoped that, even in this extremity, York Capital would buy it out
of bankruptcy and into private ownership. Once there, it could still
continue to make its claims against Linux and try to battle it out with
Novell and IBM. The York deal fell through, and that appears to have been
SCO's last shot at finding anyone willing to invest in its lawsuits.
With this final financial blow, and several other problems, SCO was
delisted from Nasdaq on Dec. 27.
Even before that, bankruptcy proved not to be a safe harbor for SCO. The
Delaware bankruptcy court decided that Novell's action against SCO had to
be completed before it could make a ruling. So it was that SCO now faces a
four-day trial in Salt Lake City to determine how much it owes Novell.
Novell could be awarded as much as $37 million. With at most $13 million
in current assets--and that includes the furniture, computers and kitchen
sink--and millions in other liabilities, SCO could emerge from Judge
Kimball's court without even a shirt to cover its back.
--
Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to
do what we ought. -- Pope John Paul II
--[Manny [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Alternative Information and Opinion at http://www.phnix.net
Advocacy blog: http://mamador.wordpress.com
Personal website: http://mannyamador.multiply.com
--[Pro-Life Philippines]-------------------[http://www.prolife.org.ph]--
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