Bonum Certa Men Certa

Judges Appointed in SCO Case

Weilding the hammer



Summary: Is SCO unlucky at cards?

IT IS not known yet whether Darl et al will be kicked out or not, but looking at the SCO saga in general, its impact is being grossly exaggerated because there is no substantial case to be fought.



The latest development revolves around appointment of judges and it does not seem favourable to SCO. Groklaw explains who one of them is:

Judge Campbell is an Idaho girl, which likely means she knows how to ride a horse and glean potatoes and enjoy a very big sky. She was educated in Arizona, and worked as Assistant U.S. Attorney and then Deputy County Attorney in the Salt Lake County Attorney's Office before entering private practice. So she is a Utah transplant. I must say, I like the sound of this:

A copy of all proposed orders must be directly e-mailed to Judge Campbell's chambers at the following address: [PJ: email redacted]. Proposed orders e-mailed to chambers must be editable and submitted in either WordPerfect or Microsoft Word format.

At least she knows how to use email, and she's heard of WordPerfect. That's a start! I'm just kidding. Utah is one of the most advanced court systems as far as tech is concerned.

Kidding aside, then, she's not only heard of WordPerfect, she seems to prefer it. If you download her template jury instructions for civil trials or her trial order, they are in WordPerfect format. A lot of lawyers love WordPerfect, actually. I do too. I just love the freedom of GNU/Linux, but WordPerfect is wonderful software, particularly for law offices, because it does footnotes and headers so beautifully and can see who corrected what in all drafts of a document.

[...]

If you are curious, here's Judge Kimball's bio, and as you can see, it's incredibly impressive, with many honors and awards and writings and achievements in a long and much admired career. I collected more information in this article way back in 2003, and you'll see why so many admire him. The way SCOfolk tried to smear him was, to me, one of the lowest points of this nauseatingly low saga, and if you noticed the appellate ruling did not follow their lead. It was respectful of him, although reversing in some respects on a point of law, one that, should anyone bother to appeal, I suspect would affirm Judge Kimball anyway. I admire him myself very much. I only hope he hasn't received the kinds of threats I get. Judges do get that sometimes.


Among those who publicly disparaged Judge Kimball was SCO and Microsoft friend, Maureen O'Gara.

According to another new report from Sean Michael Kerner, SCO keeps talking about funds it does not have.

SCO had stated in a 2007 SEC filing that the potential of a large payout to Novell had helped to push it into bankruptcy protection.

As to how SCO now expects to be able to pay Novell, Hunsaker said that the company has a plan -- but gave away few details.

"We have a proposed business deal waiting in the wings that can solve the judgment if it can be structured in a way to meet the approval of the bankruptcy court," he said.


Sean Michael Kerner's addenda indicate that there is no real trouble for Linux.

Further to coverage of this latest ruling [1, 2], we have some more which is not worth reciting for any new information. The Canadian Press (CP) has covered it and so have a variety of legal publications. The Register says that a "new trial means Unix ownership still up for debate" and Geek.com calls it "round two". The Boston press (where Novell's headquarters are located) has some coverage from Novell's angle and SoftPedia offers some interesting new details that Groklaw has already covered.

This decision will also have an impact on SCO's position in the bankruptcy court, giving the company more chances to have a sale of the Unix business approved, while keeping the rights to pursue the ongoing lawsuits.

Judge Kimball, who presided the copyright case in 2004, recused himself from the IBM and Novell cases, being replaced by Judge Ted Stewart for the SCO - Novell litigation and Judge Tena Campell for the SCO - IBM lawsuit.


Justin Ryan, the person at Linux Journal who has kept track of this case for a long time, believes that "SCO Will Try Again" and Microsoft's acquiescent person at SD Times uses a familiar zombie-themed comparison.

The internet is alive with the sound of screaming this week, as everyone and their brother rushes to announce the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling on SCO's appeal of the U.S. District Court's decision in its case against Novell. To hear some tell it, SCO has emerged triumphant, Novell is vanquished, darkness shall reign in the whole of the land, and male pattern baldness will engulf us all.


The SCO saga may carry on for a while longer. It never seems to end and it's obvious who gains the most.

"...Microsoft wished to promote SCO and its pending lawsuit against IBM and the Linux operating system. But Microsoft did not want to be seen as attacking IBM or Linux."

--Larry Goldfarb, Baystar, key investor in SCO



Recent Techrights' Posts

What's Very Vexing to GAFAM, EPO and Others Is That It's Incredibly Hard to Censor Us (and Nobody Ever Successfully Did That Before)
resist, do not capitulate
Receiving SLAPPs and Collecting Them Like Trophies (the SLAPPs Always Fail)
People who file lawsuits bring even more attention to themselves (or to embarrassing statements about them)
Year of GNU/Linux on the Laptop?
It's not happening only in Lenovo
What People Must Understand About the Open Source Initiative (OSI)
some facts about the Open Source Initiative (OSI)
More Copyright Lawsuits Against LLM Slop Providers and Suppliers of LLM Slopfarms Would Benefit Society
It's not just bad for the Web and for society; it's also legally dangerous
In defence of JD Vance, death of Pope Francis
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Three Years in Prison for Disney Employee’s ‘Menu Hacking’: The Economic Fallout of Digital Menus
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
 
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, April 26, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, April 26, 2025
Microsoft Isn't on the Map in USSR
To them, it's either Google or Yandex
In Central America Windows Became a Small Force
These are countries where Windows used to have well over 95% of the "market"
Site May be Even Faster Now
It basically takes less than a tenth of a second to serve the page
Many of the Scandals Are Interconnected (Overlapping People and Corporations)
We're only getting started
Links 26/04/2025: General Assassinated in the Town of Balashikha, US Promoting Seafloor Mining
Links for the day
Links 26/04/2025: Facebook Layoffs Again, Remembering What's Real, and Say No to Mass Surveillance
Links for the day
Links 26/04/2025: NOAA Budget Cuts and "Dog Days Ahead"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, April 25, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, April 25, 2025
Links 25/04/2025: Slop Fatigue and Patent Judges Flocking to Fake, Unconstitutional and Illegal Kangaroo Court (UPC, Captured 'Justice')
Links for the day
Gemini Links 25/04/2025: Night Manager and Devuan in Hosting
Links for the day
Approaching 10,000 Articles/Pages Since Going Static
Trying to silence or derail the site was always a dumb strategy
Windows Falls to New Lows in Nicaragua, Now Below a Quarter (It Used to be Almost 100%)
Another all-time low for Windows
Microsoft is Shedding Off Loads of Staff and That Can be Dangerous Too
Working for Microsoft is a choice; nobody forces you to do it
Richard Stallman and the Unix Philosophy
When asked about systemd people must remember that RMS speaks as an active Board member of the FSF and also the founder of the FSF
The Cost (to Linux) of LLM Slop
Slop 'artists' like Fagioli are far from harmless
Links 25/04/2025: Ubisoft Spyware, Hegseth Fails at Tech on Every Level
Links for the day
Gemini Links 25/04/2025: Food Forest Update and Facebook Destroying the Net
Links for the day
Get Rid of Back Doors, Don't Obsess Over Bounties and Other Corporate PR Stunts (or Needless Reboot Rituals)
Security as a term has mostly lost its meaning due to repeated misuse for many years
Serial Sloppers Are Killing the Web (They Probably Don't Care, Either)
Slop is a disease on the Web
Streaming Apps Are “Investor Fraud” That Kills the Planet
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Things Get Increasingly Nasty at Microsoft Ahead of the Fake Results and May's Mass Layoffs Wave
They try to get people to 'resign' so that they won't count as layoffs and the company's 'wellbeing' will seem better
IBM's Debt Ballooned by 8.5 Billion Dollars in Just 3 Months!
Hallmark of a company in a state of disarray, trying to spend its way out of trouble
Big Trouble in GNOME
even GNOME people admit the CoC went wrong
Slopping the Trough: Disney Plus Loses Billions and the Decline of Physical Media in America
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, April 24, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, April 24, 2025