A few days ago, amid great victory to Linux, we dared to argue that UNIX copyrights in Novell's hands are a worrisome business. We later argued that inheritance of these copyrights might be an issue as well, especially at times when SUSE mimics Microsoft's technologies and adopts Microsoft formats/protocols.

We are relieved to hear that Bruce Lowry offers some reassurance. He promises that Novell won't be the "next SCO", i.e it won't be trolling companies.

"We're not interested in suing people over Unix," Novell spokesman Bruce Lowry said. "We're not even in the Unix business anymore."

Better the devil that we know than the one we do not know. What if the stance was changed through future acquisitions, executive shuffles (Darl McBride used to work at Novell), or even proxies? We are already hearing that SCO might be the target of takeovers (possibly hostile ones).

SCO on the brink of financial collapse

[...]

The company's share price had closed at $1.56 on Friday ahead of a court ruling that Novell, and not SCO, was the rightful owner of the copyrights for the Unix operating system. The price remained steady in early trading, however, valuing the company at about $9.5m.

Also, of interest is the revelation that SCO may have faked the whole lawsuit and fabricated a legal case (knowingly engaging in a lost battle).

Ruling suggests SCO knew it did not own Unix

[...]

According to Kimball's decision, McBride had in late 2002 contacted Novell seeking records related to SCO's intellectual property rights related to Unix. Following Anderer's email, McBride contacted Novell on several occasions in February 2003 asking Novell to hand over the copyrights.

Over time, friendly companies turned into hostile one. The 'Microsoft money' played a role at times. Can a future Novell be trusted?