IBM Files New Claims In Heated Linux Fight

[Mike Reinehr]

IBM Files New Claims In Heated Linux Fight

By WILLIAM M. BULKELEY
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

International Business Machines Corp. has filed new counterclaims against SCO 
Group Inc. in the closely watched case involving the Linux operating system, 
according to a memo sent to the IBM sales force.

According to the memo, which was obtained by The Wall Street Journal, the new 
counterclaim charges that SCO infringed IBM's copyrights by distributing 
IBM's contributions to Linux after SCO had violated its Linux license by 
claiming a copyright on parts of Linux. IBM says in its counterclaim that SCO 
violated the general public license, or GPL, under which Linux is 
distributed. The GPL requires Linux distributors to permit customers to 
freely copy the software.

SCO is based in Linden, Utah. The case is being tried in U.S. district court 
in Salt Lake City.

In the memo to the sales force, IBM also said it won't offer to indemnify its 
Linux customers from facing lawsuits related to intellectual property claims 
involving Linux. Recently, Hewlett-Packard Co. said it will provide 
indemnification to Linux users who run the software on H-P computers.

In the memo, signed by Robert Samson, an IBM sales manager, IBM said that: 
"Most indemnities are narrowly drawn and are often invalidated by customer 
activities, such as making modifications or combining the indemnified product 
with other code, which are central to the vitality of open source." It said 
the H-P indemnification requirements, "will inhibit customers from taking 
full advantage of the open source development process."

Mr. Samson's memo says "H-P's approach as outlined in the press, we believe 
runs fundamentally counter to the Linux value proposition." Many users like 
Linux because they can view the source code making it easy to adapt the 
operating system for their own uses."

Write to William M. Bulkeley at bill.bulkeley at wsj.com

Updated September 26, 2003 11:19 a.m.
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"More laws, less justice." -- Marcus Tullius Ciceroca, 42 BC
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