Leading Linux distributor Red Hat Inc. sued the SCO Group Inc. Monday, calling accusations of copyright infringement against the open-source operating system "unfair and deceptive actions."
The lawsuit, filed in Delaware federal court, seeks a declaration that Red Hat is not violating SCO's intellectual property and an injunction that would bar SCO from making untrue claims that harm the Linux business.
"We're seeking a resolution ... to all the rhetoric as fast as possible," said Matthew Szulik, Red Hat's chief executive officer.
SCO, which owns key parts of the Unix operating system, claims its code has seeped into Linux. It is seeking $3 billion from International Business Machines Corp. for allegedly transferring Unix code to Linux. SCO has also sent warning letters to hundreds of other companies.
From what I can determine, SCO has shown no evidence to date that its code is being infringed. Moreover, until it filed suit, it distributed Linux itself! SCO's stock is up some 500% since it sued IBM, the AP reports here.
UPDATE (8/13/03): Not only have SCO executives driven up the price of their company's stock, but they are selling into the wave at huge profits to themselves, it says here. I completely agree that "this whole thing is sounding more like a "pump and dump" scam, where executives pump up the price of a stock, only to dump it all when the value of the company peaks, leaving investors high and dry." Can you say "jail"? I knew you could.