A retail trade association in the US says the SCO
Group's claim that it owns some of the intellectual property within
the Linux operating system is "unfounded".
The National Retail Federation, which represents more than 1.4
million US retailers, concluded that SCO's assertion that it holds
the copyright to Unix System V is "without merit", said Dave Hogan,
the federation's chief information officer.
"Novell is the last company that can demonstrate legal ownership
of Unix System V," he added.
The statement appears designed to assuage fears retailers may
have over their use of Linux. The federation "expected that
retailers who use Linux will survive the current litigation".
Neither SCO nor the NRF returned calls seeking comment for this
story.
SCO acquired certain rights to the Unix System V source code in
2002, but the question of exactly which rights it acquired remains
subject to debate. Novell, which purchased the Unix System V
copyright from AT&T in 1993, says it still owns the Unix
copyright. SCO has sued Novell for slander over these claims
Novell is not the only company to receive the unwanted attention
of SCO's lawyers. Last year SCO launched a $5bn lawsuit against
IBM, claiming the computer maker had illegally contributed SCO's
intellectual property to Linux. In March, SCO sued automotive giant
DaimlerChrysler and auto parts retailer AutoZone, and it has
threatened to sue other Linux users.
Robert McMillan writes for IDG News
Service