Red Hat fires salvo to unite Linux against SCO

By Matt Whipp

Posted on 5 Aug 2003 at 11:31

Red Hat has filed a formal complaint against SCO for its 'unsubstantiated' statements regarding alleged Unix infringements by Linux.

'We filed this complaint to stop SCO from making unsubstantiated and untrue public statements attacking Red Hat Linux and the integrity of the Open Source software development process,' said Mark Webbink, General Counsel at Red Hat.

SCO CEO Darl McBride responded in a letter to Webbink, saying, 'Be advised that our response will likely include counterclaims for copyright infringement and conspiracy.'

The move marks the first call to rally the Linux community to take on SCO. Red Hat is hoping the troops will rush to its standard and has set up its Open Source Now fund which it has kicked off to the tune of $1m.

The fund will help cover the legal costs of infringement claims brought against open-source companies and may give the Linux community the confidence it needs to take a more aggressive stance against the litigious SCO.

Red Hat is confident that its software is legally sound and is seeking to make SCO accountable for what it calls 'unfair and deceptive actions,' which included sending letters to the top Fortune 1500 companies warning them that using Linux might infringe Unix copyrights.

SCO's official response typically keeps the infringement fracas very much in the public space, publishing correspondence between Red Hat and SCO to back up its position.

'SCO has not been trying to spread fear, uncertainty and doubt to end users. We have been educating end users on the risks of running an operating system that is an unauthorized derivative of UNIX. Linux includes source code that is a verbatim copy of UNIX and carries with it no warranty or indemnification,' it says.

However, the letters reveal that SCO was not expecting action of this nature from Red Hat. It seems that Red Hat had approached SCO for an audience to discuss SCO's claims over Linux, following Red Hat's revision of its risk disclosure statement. However, a subsequent telephone call between the CEOs of the companies kept the matter to 'good faith' discussions.

Even so, SCO has claimed to have substantiated its infringement claims over Linux and has publicly said it will go after the 'commercial users'. It could not really have believed the Linux community would sit back and hope IBM would bear the brunt of the storm for ever.

See also:

SCO announces umbrella licence for Linux users

SCO shows its hand on Unix code violations