[clug] The SCO/Linux/et alia Saga

[Basil Chupin]

A couple of articles worth reading-

http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104_2-1010569.html

and

http://www.ofb.biz/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=235


And this was posted in the SuSE Help mail group:

Quote

May 29, 2003 - Orem, Utah

In a last ditch effort to save their failed software company, Caldera 
Litigation, Inc., (formally SCO Group, formally Caldera Systems, 
formally Caldera, Inc.) announced today their intent to sue the last 
person on the planet they have not yet tried to bring to court. The 
target of this latest campaign is Sardawanda Parmutha, a 93-year-old 
great, great grandmother in Niuapal, India (57 km east of New Dehli).

 "Mrs. Parmutha's actions are in complete violation of all US copyright 
and patent laws," said Darl McBride, Caldera's CEO and one of the three 
remaining Caldera employees. "In August, 2002, while waiting for her 
grand-daughter to arrive with her great-grandson for a visit, Mrs. 
Parmutha, scratched what she claims were meaningless shapes in the dirt 
in front of her house. After detailed analysis of the shapes, it became 
clear that these were mathematical representations of code to which we 
hold the copyright. Although Mrs. Parmutha tried to obfuscate the code, 
it is obvious to even a sober person that it is our code. Mrs. Parmutha 
had not obtained proper authorization prior scratching those shapes in 
the dirt. Therefore she is liable for all lost revenue that resulted 
from her actions."

Despite the fact that the yearly income of the entire Parmutha family is 
less that what Mr. McBride pays for his vodka martinis during a single 
lunch, Caldera is suing Mrs. Parmutha for 1 billion Indian Rupees 
(approx 21 million USD). At present Mrs. Parmutha's only possession is a 
13-year-old mule, which she uses primary as transportation, since she 
finds walking difficult. When ask if Caldera really needed one more ass 
in the company, McBride responded, "It is a matter of principle. We are 
demonstrating to the rest of the world that we take our intellectually 
property rights very seriously."

Unquote

-- 
Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.

                                        Pablo Picasso