8 December 2003 SCO Group has been ordered to disclose the Linux operating system code that it believes infringe its Unix intellectual property rights. SCO has been given 30 days to comply by Judge Dale Kimball.

The court order represents a victory for IBM, who SCO is suing for $3 billion for allegedly infringing its Unix intellectual property.

The judgement went entirely in favour of IBM. “There was blood all over the floor on the SCO side of the aisle,” said one attendee, quoted on legal web site Groklaw.net. SCO lawyers said that they would file a complaint on copyright violations within days.

As a result, SCO will have to disclose to IBM all source code and other material in Linux to which it claims rights and describe how it believes IBM has infringed those rights. It must also disclose whether it too has ever distributed any of the contentious code itself.

SCO CEO Darl McBride, who attended the hearing, admitted that he had expected the outcome. Less expected, however, was the absence of David Boies, the highly rated lawyer hired by SCO in return for a guaranteed $1 million and lucrative share options should SCO eventually win its case.

Instead, SCO was represented by Darl McBride’s brother, Kevin McBride, who spoke for 40 minutes in a presentation described by another Groklaw.net observer as “hard to follow”.

Links:
What the Judge Has Ordered SCO To Give IBM – Groklaw.net