[NCLUG] Breaking news! SCO is full of crap (big surprise)

[jbass at dmsd.com]

Sean Reifschneider <jafo at tummy.com>
> Remember, SCO is claiming billions of dollars of lost profit because IBM
> let some of their secrets slip out into Linux.  If they actually then go
> out and profit from it by charging individual Linux users for their use
> of the IP, SCO would seem to be invalidating their previous claim.  That
> seems to be what was being said in the legal analysis, but IANAL.  That
> seems like common sense though.

IANAL ... just worked in a lot of different places over the years with
legal stuff flying all around me .... Warner Brothers Records division,
Arcada Group Publishers (Time, News Week, Penthouse .... )

Ignore the fact that we are talking about software for a second. Think of
it as books.

If a publisher prints a million copies of some novel, is taken to court
loses and is fined for those million copies ... that pays for the first
million illegal copies.

If the same or some other publisher prints another million copies that
is another crime.

In the US it is illegal to not only steal, but to recieve stolen goods
as a separate crime ... that theory has been well tested.

The same applies to software ... any settlement against IBM is going to
be for copies IBM distributes.

Anyone else that distributes after being notified, is at risk separately,
and that includes "free" distributions, and those that take and use them.

SCO by widely pressing the claims will be free to press it against everyone
that makes distributions or downloads them knowingly.

So, it's not all that clear that users can be completely exempted by continuing
to take and use IP that SCO claims as illegal.

John