How SCO’s Claims On Linux Might Affect Users

For companies nervous over SCO Group’s challenge of the general public license, the legal foundation for Linux, the general advice by experts is don’t
panic.

The Lindon, Utah, computer maker rocked the high-tech world last month by launching a direct legal challenge of the GPL, saying the open source
software license “violates the U.S. Constitution, together with copyright, antitrust and export control laws.”

The attack came in court papers filed in SCO’s $3 billion lawsuit that claims IBM violated its contract with SCO by moving Unix technology to Linux,
and thus making the copyrighted code available to anyone for free. SCO holds the patent to the Unix operating system, and, along with its suit against
Big Blue, has demanded royalties from 1,500 enterprises using Linux.