SCO sues major Linux users
Source ZDNET
SCO suits target two big Linux users
By Stephen Shankland
CNET News.com
March 3, 2004, 1:14 PM PT
The SCO Group is targeting lawsuits at auto parts retailer AutoZone and automaker DaimlerChrysler in its continuing legal battle over the Unix and Linux operating systems.
The software company alleges that AutoZone "violated SCO's Unix copyrights by running versions of the Linux operating system that contain code, structure, sequence and/or organization from SCO's proprietary Unix System V code in violation of SCO's copyrights," it said in a statement released on Wednesday.
Spokesman Blake Stowell said on Wednesday that SCO also filed suit against DaimlerChrysler in Michigan's Oakland County Circuit Court for alleged violations of the automotive company's Unix software agreement with SCO.
Stuttgart, Germany-based DaimlerChrysler, which has U.S. offices in Auburn Hills, Mich., was not immediately available for comment.
An AutoZone representative said: "We have not seen the lawsuit and therefore cannot comment on it. It is our understanding that SCO sent letters to hundreds of companies making allegations." Memphis, Tenn.-based AutoZone has about 3,000 stores nationwide.
Suing companies that use Linux makes strategic sense for SCO, said Mark Radcliffe, an intellectual-property attorney not involved in the case.
"They needed to start suing users, because they're the ones that are going to be the least desirous of spending money to defend this. They're going to scream for their distributors to 'Come and save me,'" he said. "It will produce increased pressure to IBM to produce indemnity," a form of legal protection for customers.
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