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SCO to Demand License Fees from Linux Users

July 24, 2003


On June 17, 2003, we issued an alert outlining developments in the litigation between International Business Machines Corporation (“IBM”) and Caldera International, Inc., a company that does business under the name The SCO Group (“SCO”).

Despite being widely reported in the popular and trade press, the facts of the IBM/SCO dispute remain complex and often misunderstood. Distilled to their most basic elements, SCO is making two inter-related claims. First, that IBM wrongfully used and disclosed portions of the source code to SCO’s proprietary “UnixWare” and “Unix System V” computer operating systems. Second, that as a consequence of IBM’s alleged wrongful use and disclosure, SCO’s proprietary source code was unlawfully incorporated into the popular “Linux” open-source operating system used at thousands of companies around the world.

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