Theres a fascinating report over at ComputerWorld which re-opens the argument about who owns the copyright to the Unix code. The whole case is many moons old - and seemed to have been settled by a 2007 decision that the copyright in the code was owned by Novell. The 10th circuit court of Appeals has now concluded that in fact SCO owns the code.
What struck me most in the report is that the case is clearly being funded by a private equity company, Stephen Norris Capital Partners, who have invested in the company according to the ComputerWorld story. SCO - according to the same report - is obliged to aggressively continue its litigation against Novell, IBM and Autozone.
Somewhat confusingly - but maybe somebody can provide some answers here - SCO is still in bankruptcy, according to the SEC filing on 3 August 2009. It seems that the investiment in the company by Stephen Norris Capital Partners may have only paid for the on-going trial. The remainder is at a high interest rate - which SCO could presumable now draw on to move the cases against IBM, Novel and Autozone ahead. Fascinating - do we now have a copyright troll on the loose?
