In SCO's Memorandum in Opposition to IBM's Motion for Summary Judgment on its Claim for Copyright Infringement (IBM's Eighth Counterclaim) on pp.9-10 (pp.15-16 in PDF), The SCO Group claims:
30. The licensing clauses of all the UNIX Licenses are worded similarly. (Ex. 49 ¶ 30.) The UNIX Licenses thus are agreements pertaining to UNIX and not to Linux. (Id.; IBM Ex. 324 at 181-82.) 31. SCO has not sought to collect royalties or licensing fees for, or to impose any restrictions on, the use of Linux or any of IBM's allegedly copyrighted works. (IBM Ex. 284 ¶ 9; Ex.49 ¶ 30.) SCO has never attempted to license or sublicense Linux or any IBM copyrighted work, or any other GPL-licensed source code. (Ex. 49 ¶ 30.)
30. The licensing clauses of all the UNIX Licenses are worded similarly. (Ex. 49 ¶ 30.) The UNIX Licenses thus are agreements pertaining to UNIX and not to Linux. (Id.; IBM Ex. 324 at 181-82.)
31. SCO has not sought to collect royalties or licensing fees for, or to impose any restrictions on, the use of Linux or any of IBM's allegedly copyrighted works. (IBM Ex. 284 ¶ 9; Ex.49 ¶ 30.) SCO has never attempted to license or sublicense Linux or any IBM copyrighted work, or any other GPL-licensed source code. (Ex. 49 ¶ 30.)
(md5: ffc729aa188600600720ec9b0b58b7e4 IBM-954.pdf) (Groklaw text)
But in Exhibit 423: “Transcript of July 21, 2003 Conference Call, titled ‘The SCO Group Conference Call to Provide Updates on IBM lawsuit, UNIX Ownership and Copyrights’”, The SCO Group's CEO Darl McBride says:
[...] SCO is trying to find ways to help customers solve this problem, balanced against our own legal rights to stop infringing use of Linux. Under US and international copyright law, end users are subject to injunctive relief and damages for improper use of copyrighted works. With registration of its Unix copyrights, SCO now has broad legal rights against end-users with respect to infringing use of the Linux 2.4 kernel release and any future release of the Linux 2.6 kernel. However, we intend to use these rights carefully and judiciously. In the past week, many Linux users have asked us how they can immediately resolve issues with Linux without litigation. This is clearly the path SCO prefers to take in resolving its issues with end-users of Linux. Therefore, as a viable alternative to legal enforcement against Linux end users, SCO is prepared to offer a license for SCO's UnixWare 713 product for use in conjunction with any Linux offering. Specifically, SCO will hold its licensees harmless and will covenant not to sue such licensees for running Linux in binary format on any CPU licensed under a valid SCO UnixWare 713 license. This licensing format will assure that Linux users are able to run Linux in full compliance with SCO's underlying intellectual property rights. In making this license available to end users, SCO does not waive any of its rights against IBM or others. This UnixWare 713 license offering is designed to give immediate relief to customers using Linux, so that customers can focus on their business issues without concerns of violating SCO's intellectual property rights in Unix. The pricing of such license will be dependent on customer's past and future usage of Linux and the number of servers that currently run Linux. [...]
[...]
SCO is trying to find ways to help customers solve this problem, balanced against our own legal rights to stop infringing use of Linux. Under US and international copyright law, end users are subject to injunctive relief and damages for improper use of copyrighted works. With registration of its Unix copyrights, SCO now has broad legal rights against end-users with respect to infringing use of the Linux 2.4 kernel release and any future release of the Linux 2.6 kernel. However, we intend to use these rights carefully and judiciously.
In the past week, many Linux users have asked us how they can immediately resolve issues with Linux without litigation. This is clearly the path SCO prefers to take in resolving its issues with end-users of Linux. Therefore, as a viable alternative to legal enforcement against Linux end users, SCO is prepared to offer a license for SCO's UnixWare 713 product for use in conjunction with any Linux offering. Specifically, SCO will hold its licensees harmless and will covenant not to sue such licensees for running Linux in binary format on any CPU licensed under a valid SCO UnixWare 713 license. This licensing format will assure that Linux users are able to run Linux in full compliance with SCO's underlying intellectual property rights.
In making this license available to end users, SCO does not waive any of its rights against IBM or others. This UnixWare 713 license offering is designed to give immediate relief to customers using Linux, so that customers can focus on their business issues without concerns of violating SCO's intellectual property rights in Unix.
The pricing of such license will be dependent on customer's past and future usage of Linux and the number of servers that currently run Linux. [...]
(md5: 7d020aa6803a9aed45440a0715a6d73b IBM-835-Exhibit_423.pdf) (Groklaw alternate transcript)
So, in 2003, according to The SCO Group's CEO, the license that they called a “UnixWare 713 license” was designed for customers using Linux, with pricing dependent on usage of Linux, and the license covenanted “not to sue such licensees for running Linux in binary format”.
But in 2007, The SCO Group “never sought to collect royalties or licensing fees for, or to impose any restrictions on, the use of Linux or any of IBM's allegedly copyrighted works”?
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