United States District Court Judge Issues Final Judgment Confirming Novell Ownership of UNIX Copyrights and Denying Other SCO Claims

Ian Bruce
Novell

June 11, 2010

Yesterday, United States District Court Judge Ted Stewart issued a Final Judgment regarding the long standing dispute between SCO Group and Novell. As part of the decision, the Court reaffirmed the earlier jury verdict that Novell maintained ownership of important UNIX copyrights, which SCO had asserted to own in its attack on the Linux computer operating system. The Court also issued a lengthy Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law wherein it determined that SCO was not entitled to an order requiring Novell to transfer the UNIX copyrights because “Novell had purposely retained those copyrights.” In addition, the Court concluded that SCO was obligated to recognize Novell’s waiver of SCO’s claims against IBM and other companies, many of whom utilize Linux.

Commenting on the Judgment, Novell President and CEO Ron Hovsepian stated “After almost a decade of litigation, we are very pleased to see this final judgment uphold all of Novell's claims. I am very proud of this achievement and the work Novell has done to ensure Linux remains free and open.”

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