Within the last year, The SCO Group has claimed Intellectual Property rights to parts of the Linux operating system. Within the last few months, The SCO Group has threatened legal action against several major retailers for using Linux. The SCO Group claims that they hold the copyright to Unix and believes that retailers who use Linux violate SCO’s copyright.
The following is a statement from NRF CIO Dave Hogan regarding the lawsuits:
Based on the information we have seen, the National Retail Federation believes the claims by The SCO Group are without merit. Novell Corporation is the last company that can demonstrate legal ownership of Unix System V.
Novell Corporation filed a court challenge to The SCO Group's claim of Intellectual Property rights, demonstrating serious questions regarding whether The SCO Group ever gained legal ownership to Unix System V. Furthermore, The SCO Group has not specified which parts of Unix System V have been copied into Linux.
In my opinion, it is almost as if The SCO Group’s business model is to generate a revenue stream through litigation.
NRF expects that retailers who use Linux will survive the current litigation.
The NRF CIO Council will continue to pay close attention to this issue.
The National Retail Federation is the world's largest retail trade association, with membership that comprises all retail formats and channels of distribution including department, specialty, discount, catalogue, Internet and independent stores as well as the industry's key trading partners of retail goods and services. NRF represents an industry with more than 1.4 million U.S. retail establishments, more than 23 million employees - about one in five American workers - and 2003 sales of $3.8 trillion. As the industry umbrella group, NRF also represents more than 100 state, national and international retail associations.
