SCO is at Novell's mercy at the moment. Watch the most recent disclosures from SCO.

The rulings may also cost SCO a lot of money. The court said that SCO would have to pay Novell for past licensing deals it had struck with Sun Microsystems Inc. and Microsoft. This could amount more than $30 million, SCO said in its SEC filing. That's more than the $10.4 million in cash now held by SCO.

It remains to see if Novell will ever exploit this ownership in a malicious way. Looking at the long term, Novell could be acquired and be aligned against its current goals. Never say never. Companies change hands and they subsequently change focus