According to the report, SCO is accusing Novell of slander and seeking a court order that would require Novell to assign to SCO all UNIX-related copyrights and to withdraw any statements that lay claim to ownership of UNIX. The suit also seeks unspecified punitive damages and injunctions that would transfer to SCO any UNIX-related copyrights obtained by Novell.
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“SCO takes this action today, given Novell’s recent and repeated announcements regarding their claimed ownership of the UNIX and UnixWare copyrights,” said Mark Heise, lawyer for SCO, in a statement. “SCO has received many questions about Novell’s actions from potential customers, investors and the press. Although SCO owns the UNIX and UnixWare copyrights, Novell’s efforts to claim ownership of these copyrights has forced this action.”
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At the heart of the dispute between SCO and Novell are the rights to UNIX that Novell sold to SCO’s predecesoors. Novell claims that it retained certain rights while SCO asserts that it acquired all the rights in the transaction.
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The lawsuit comes on the heels of Novell’s recent acquisition of SuSE Linux, making it the second largest distributor of Linux behind Red Hat.
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SCO is currently embroiled in a lawsuit against IBM and has threatened to pursue legal action against enterprises who do not pay licensing fees for their use of Linux systems that include code SCO alleges it owns.
