As of Friday, 10th August, 2007, SCO’s future is now effectively doomed. There is no recovery from the death blow they’ve just been dealt. There is no way SCO’s litigation can continue against others. It is now officially the defendant in a number of very nasty claims against it.

IBM is about to pummel this pissant to the ground and leave it nothing more than a blurred smudge in the history of Utah.

SCO HAS LOST!!! The absolutely idiotic lawsuits against IBM and the rest are now laid to rest. SCOs claims are no more.

The courts have finally come to a decision in the Novell vs SCO case. Effectively, Novell owns the copyrights to Unix and Unixware. SCO *must* comply with Novell’s order to waiver the so called contractual breaches that IBM committed.

The ruling against SCO from Judge Kimball is a full 102 pages long. But I’ve pasted the conclusion from his ruling after the break. If you want to see the first of the big reactions, head over to the comment thread on Groklaw. :-)

For the reasons stated above, the court concludes that Novell is the owner of the UNIX and UnixWare copyrights. Therefore, SCO’s First Claim for Relief for slander of title and Third Claim for Relief for specific performance are dismissed, as are the copyright ownership portions of SCO’s Fifth Claim for Relief for unfair competition and Second Claim for Relief for breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing. The court denies SCO’s cross-motion for summary judgment on its own slander of title, breach of contract, and unfair competition claims, and on Novell’s slander of title claim. Accordingly, Novell’s slander of title claim is still at issue.

The court also concludes that, to the extent that SCO has a copyright to enforce, SCO can simultaneously pursue both a copyright infringement claim and a breach of contract claim based on the non-compete restrictions in the license back of the Licensed Technology under APA and the TLA. The court further concludes that there has not been a change of control that released the non-compete restrictions of the license, and the non-compete restrictions of the license are not void under California law. Accordingly, Novell’s motion for summary judgment on SCO’s non-compete claim in its Second Claim for breach of contract and Fifth Claim for Relief for unfair competition is granted to the extent that SCO’s claims require ownership of the UNIX and UnixWare copyrights, and denied in all other regards.

Furthermore, the court concludes, as a matter of law, that the only reasonable interpretation of the term “SVRX License” in the APA is all licenses related to the SVRX products listed in Item VI of Schedule 1.1(a) to the APA. Therefore, Novell is entitled to a declaration of rights under its Fourth Claim for Relief that it was and 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. Accordingly, Novell’s motion for partial summary judgment on its Fourth Claim for Relief for declaratory judgment is granted, and SCO’s cross-motion for summary judgment on Novell’s Fourth Claim for Relief is denied.

Finally, the court concludes, as a matter of law, that the only reasonably interpretation of all SVRX Licenses includes no temporal restriction of SVRX Licenses existing at the time of the APA. The court further concludes that because a portion of SCO’s 2003 Sun and Microsoft Agreements indisputably licenses SVRX products listed under Item VI of Schedule 1.1(a) to the APA, even if only incidental to a license for UnixWare, SCO is obligated under the APA to account for and pass through to Novell the appropriate portion relating to the license of SVRX products. Because SCO failed to do so, it breached its fiduciary duty to Novell under the APA and is liable for conversion.

The court, however, is precluded from granting a constructive trust with respect to the payments SCO received under the 2003 Sun and Microsoft Agreements because there is a question of fact as to the appropriate amount of SVRX Royalties SCO owes to Novell based on the portion of SVRX products contained in each agreement. Furthermore, because Novell has obtained the information that it would otherwise obtain through an accounting during the course of this litigation, the court denies Novell’s Ninth Claim for Relief for an accounting. However, the court also notes that SCO has a continuing contractual obligation to comply with the accounting and reporting requirements set forth in the APA.

Accordingly, Novell’s Motion for Partial Summary Judgment or Preliminary Injunction [Docket No. 147] is GRANTED IN PART AND DENIED IN PART; SCO’s Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment or Partial Summary Judgment on Novell’s Third, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth and Ninth Counterclaims [Docket No. 180] is GRANTED IN PART AND DENIED IN PART; Novell’s Motion for Partial Summary Judgment on its Fourth Claim [Docket No. 171] is GRANTED; SCO’s Cross-Motion for Partial Summary Judgment on Novell’s Fourth Claim [Docket No. 224] is DENIED; SCO’s Motion for Partial Summary Judgment on its First, Second, and Fifth Claims and Novell’s First Claim [Docket No. 258] is DENIED; Novell’s Motion for Partial Summary Judgment on Copyright Ownership of SCO’s Second Claim for Breach of Contract and Fifth Claim for Unfair Competition [Docket No. 271] is GRANTED; Novell’s Motion for Partial Summary Judgment on SCO’s Non-Compete Claims in its Second and Fifth Claims [Docket No. 273] is GRANTED IN PART AND DENIED IN PART; Novell’s Motion for Summary Judgment on SCO’s First Claim for Slander of Title and Third Claim for Specific Performance [Docket No. 275] is GRANTED; and Novell’s Motion for Summary Judgment on SCO’s First Claim for Slander of Title for Failure to Establish Special Damages [Docket No. 277] is MOOT.

DATED this 10th day of August, 2007.

BY THE COURT:

__________________________________ DALE A. KIMBALL, United States District Judge

Memorandum Decision and Order – Judge Kimball Ruling against SCO – 10/Aug/2007

I’m so happy I really don’t know what to say! :-) To think that when this all started I was still working for InterConnect and now, all these years later there is finally some ending in sight.

I really am looking forward to seeing how all those SCO lovers over the years react to this. Enderle and all his cronies. All those asshats that spent huge resources attempting to out Pamela Jones and more.

This is a great day folks. Be glad and rejoice and all sorts of other things.

Now I’m off to work the graveyard shift in Kumeu. Ciao.