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SCO Subpoenas
Torvalds & Linux OS Developers
Nov 15th, 2003
SCO Group Inc.'s
spokesman Marc Modersitzki said last Thursday (11/12/03) that SCO Group’s
legal counsel had issued subpoenas to Linux creator Linus Torvalds and
a number of companies and luminaries of the Linux community.
In addition to Torvalds, the subpoenas were served to Digeo Corp., employer
of Linux kernel maintainer Andrew Morton; the Free Software Foundation;
Novell Inc.; the Open Source Development Labs; and Transmeta Corp.,
the employer of Linus Torvalds. Morton and Torvalds also work for the
Open Source Development Labs, where they devote their time to Linux
development. This is all part of the $3 billion lawsuit against IBM.
It was also reported that Torvald will get free legal counsel from his
employer. The Open Source Development Labs, which was also subpoenaed
Wednesday in the case, said Friday that it would pay its law firm, AterWynne
LLP, to represent Torvalds.
"We as an organization are taking responsibility for the funding
of legal representation for anybody involved with our company as part
of this
litigation," OSDL
spokesman Nelson Pratt said. "Our legal counsel is reviewing the
subpoena that was sent to [Torvalds], as well as OSDL as an organization."
SCO filed its suit
in March, claiming that IBM violated its Unix contract with SCO by improperly
donating Unix code to the Linux kernel. Torvalds is the chief developer
of the Linux kernel. IBM has denied the allegations and filed a counter
suit.
In its suit, SCO has also attacked the general public license governing
Linux, saying in court papers that the GPL "violates the U.S. Constitution,
together with copyright, antitrust, and export control laws."
The common link between the entities, Modersitzki said, is that each has
been involved in leading Linux or creating Linux code. Modersitzki characterized
the subpoenas as seeking technical details, but he would not specify what
SCO is hoping to uncover.
Modersitzki also countered reports that have suggested that SCO is making
this move in response to IBM Corp.'s subpoenas of investment banks and
The Yankee Group, which have been viewed as siding with SCO.
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