The SCO Group, Inc. is a software company based in
Lindon, Utah.
The company's principal products are
proprietary versions of UNIX (UnixWare and OpenServer),
Smallfoot (an operating system for point-of-sale applications),
software that provides various mobile services (Me, Inc.), and various associated products
and services.
The company was originally founded in
1994,
by Bryan Sparks and Ransom Love, initially as a
Linux distributor.
Caldera also purchased DR-DOS (a DOS operating system) from
Novell in
1996,
and as a result inherited a lawsuit with
Microsoft over claims of
monopolization, illegal tying, exclusive dealing, and tortious interference -
until a settlement
between the two companies (on undisclosed terms, but apparently involving a payment to Caldera)
was eventually reached in
2000.
The company went public in
2000,
and in 2001,
after protracted negotiations, Caldera acquired the Server and Professional Services
divisions of the Santa Cruz Operation, Inc., and thus the products of UnixWare and
OpenServer. In
2002,
Caldera formed an alliance with other Linux vendors,
SuSE,
Turbolinux
and Connectiva, to produce a combined Linux
distribution known as UnitedLinux.
In mid
2002,
then CEO, Ransom Love, was replaced by Darl McBride. The company then began to change
direction, changing its name to The SCO Group, Inc.
In late
2002 or
early 2003,
rumors began to appear in the press that SCO was considering making intellectual property
claims against the Linux community.
The first visible sign of this was in January 2003,
when SCO formed a new division, called SCOsource,
initially focused on licensing SCO UNIX libraries, which the company claimed that some users
were using improperly on
Linux systems.
In March 2003,
SCO sued IBM (including
IBM's Sequent subsiduary)
for $1 billion (later upped to $3 billion, and then
$5 billion) as a result of SCO's allegations concerning
Linux. Some time after the lawsuit was filled, SCO
ceased its own sales of Linux, as well as publicly alleging that
that "Linux contained SCO's UNIX System V source code and that Linux was an unauthorized derivative of UNIX.".
Eventually the company also began to
make public statements stating that commercial users of all recent Linux
versions needed to buy a license from SCO's SCOsource division.
The next step in this dispute was
IBM brought their own counterclaims
against SCO, and
SCO was sued by Red Hat,
in the Fall of
2003.
Additionally, SCO became involved in a dispute with Novell
over who owned the UNIX copyrights that SCO alleged were infringed (both companies claimed to own them),
over whether Novell had a contractual right to waive any alleged breach of the UNIX
licensing agreements by IBM,
and over who owned various UNIX licensing fees collected by SCO
- these disputes eventually led to SCO suing Novell (in early
2004), and.
Novell bringing their own counterclaims against SCO.
Finally, also in early
2004,
SCO sued AutoZone and Daimler-Chrysler, again for issues relating to
Linux (alleged copyright infringements in the case of AutoZone,
and alleged breaches of UNIX licensing agreements in the case of Daimler-Chrysler).
As of late Summer
2007,
many of the issues in these cases remain unresolved. However, Judge Dale Kimball, the presiding
judge in both the
IBM and
Novell cases,
ruled in the latter case, on
August 10th2007,
"the court concludes that Novell is the owner of the UNIX and UnixWare copyrights", and
that
Novell
"is entitled, at its sole discretion, to direct SCO to waive its claims against IBM and Sequent, and SCO is obligated to recognize Novell's waiver of SCO's claims against IBM and Sequent."
On
September 14th2007,
SCO
filed a voluntary petition for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code.
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