SCO vs Linux: it's over

The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver, Colorado, which is the competent court for SCO's company headquarters in Utah, has fully confirmed the decision of the previous court – in March 2010, a jury court had ruled that the copyright to Unix is owned by Novell. Following a motion by SCO, the ruling was validated by the responsible judge three months later; SCO then appealed against this decision. This appeal has now been rejected.

The latest ruling means that SCO must pay further licence fees to Novell – in 2008, a court ordered SCO to pay about $2.5 million. By losing the copyright to Unix, SCO also loses the basis for its action against IBM and against Linux users and distributors.

Legal experts at Groklaw said that, technically, SCO can ask the US Supreme Court to hear a further appeal, but the specialists expect that such a motion would most likely be rejected without a hearing by the US Supreme Court.

See also:

• SCO vs. Linux: The story so far, a feature from The H.

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