OSDL Releases Position Paper Disputing SCO Linux Claims

Columbia University Law Professor defends GPL and says customers have yet to see public evidence from SCO of improperly copied code in Linux

BEAVERTON, Ore. - November 24, 2003 - The Open Source Development Labs (OSDL), a global consortium of leading technology companies dedicated to accelerating the adoption of Linux, today published a position paper that raises serious questions about the SCO Group's legal basis for attacking the GNU Public License (GPL) and that reassures Linux customers that no evidence has yet been made public that shows software code was improperly copied to Linux. The paper's author, Professor Eben Moglen of Columbia University, is regarded as one of the world's leading experts on copyright law as applied to software. OSDL is disseminating the position paper to address issues of concern to its members and Linux industry customers as a result of SCO Group's ongoing litigation threats.

OSDL believes Moglen's analysis will help its members, the Linux development community and Linux users better understand potential legal issues and any business risks associated with using Linux. Moglen initially presented his paper earlier this month in Portland, Oregon at a meeting of OSDL's customer advisory council, comprised of CIOs and CTOs from Fortune 100 corporations.

In his paper, Professor Moglen makes two main points:

1. SCO Group last August showed two examples of what it claimed were infringing literal copies of UNIX software code to Linux, but the "demonstration backfired, showing instead SCO's cavalier attitude toward copyright law and its even greater sloppiness at factual research," Moglen argues.
2. SCO Group has argued that the GPL software license offers the firm legal protections while at the same time it argues that the GPL is not valid. "SCO's legal situation contains an inherent contradiction," Moglen says.

"Linux momentum continues strong despite recent threats by SCO Group to sue end users," said Stuart Cohen, OSDL CEO. "We believe Professor Moglen's paper will help our members, Linux customers and others keep the legal issues in perspective." To read the entire paper, please visit the OSDL Website at: http://www.osdl.org/docs/osdl_eben_moglen_second_statement.pdf. Professor Moglen, a legal historian and antitrust expert who has written extensively on the Microsoft antitrust case, is recognized internationally as a leading authority on computers and free expression. He is a 2003 recipient of the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Pioneer Award for Pioneering Freedom on the Electronic Frontier, and has served as the general counsel for the Free Software Foundation since 1993.

About Open Source Development Labs (OSDL)

OSDL - home to Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux - is dedicated to accelerating the growth and adoption of Linux. Founded in 2000 and supported by a global consortium of Linux customers and IT industry leaders, OSDL is a non-profit organization that provides Linux expertise and computing and test facilities in the United States and Japan available to developers around the world. OSDL members include Alcatel, Cisco, Computer Associates, Dell, Ericsson, Force Computers, Fujitsu, HP, Hitachi, IBM, Intel, Linuxcare, Miracle Linux Corporation, Mitsubishi Electric, MontaVista Software, NEC Corporation, Nokia, NTT COMWARE, NTT DATA INTELLILINK, Red Hat, Sun Microsystems, SUSE LINUX, TimeSys, Toshiba, Transmeta Corporation, Turbolinux, Ulticom, Unilever and VA Software. Visit OSDL on the Web at http://www.osdl.org/.

OSDL is a trademark of Open Source Development Labs, Inc. Linux is a trademark of Linus Torvalds. Third party marks and brands are the property of their respective holders.