NEWS Novell has denied claims by SCO Group that its planned acquisition of SuSE Linux violates an 8-year-old non-compete agreement.
The enterprise software company issued a statement on Tuesday dismissing a claim by SCO CEO Darl McBride that the acquisition contravenes an agreement signed in 1995. That's when Lindon, Utah-based SCO acquired Unix System 5 from Novell.
"Mr. McBride's characterisation of the agreements between Novell and SCO is inaccurate," Novell said in the statement. "There is no non-compete provision in those contracts and the pending acquisition of SuSE Linux does not violate any agreement between Novell and SCO."
The Provo, Utah-based software maker went on to say that it had not received "formal communication from SCO on this particular issue" and that it would respond if the Linux antagonist formally pursued the matter.
McBride's comments were made during a conference call on Monday in which he discussed SCO's continued retention of Boies Schiller & Flexner, a law firm whose partner David Boies represented the US government in its anti-trust case against Microsoft.
"We bought the Unix System 5 rights from Novell back in '95, and there was non-compete language that would prevent Novell from competing against our core offerings," McBride was quoted as saying in a transcript provided by SCO. "Linux is a knockoff of Unix. There can't be a more straightforward reading of the non-compete clause."
By "reading", SCO clarified on Wednesday, McBride meant "violation".
In the conference call, McBride hedged on whether SCO intended to sue Novell over the alleged contract infringement.
"When the Novell-SuSE deal is complete, we will take measures to enforce the non-compete agreement with Novell," McBride said, according to the transcript. "I don't know that it will turn into a lawsuit. That depends upon how they respond, and if they put a competitive product in the marketplace."
Paul Festa writes for CNET News.com.
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1. anonymous
Q: Does Novell-SuSE deal tread on non-compete clause?<p>
A: <a href="http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20031120032805115">No</a>.<p>
Read the legalese, and especially the comments regarding the non-compete agreements. If Novell has a non-compete agreement with anyone here, it isn't SCO, it's Tarentella. In fact, it's possible that Novell again has substantially more rights to the original Unix codebase, simply due to Caldera's original purchase of Tarentella.
2. anonymous
I'm getting really sick and tired of hearing SCO sues this one, SOC sues that one, SCO sues the next-door neighbour's dog... Can't someone like IBM just finish them off? It's the kindest thing to do to a dying animal after all, and let's get on with life? There's more to Unix than SCO, and Linux is going where SCO can only dream.
3. Phil Kelly
Rather than squealing like a stuck pig, SCO should concentrate more on maintaining and supporting its established customer base.
The Novell-Suse deal will be good all round news for both the Novell and Linux communities worldwide, and for the first time Novell will be able to offer a complete wall-to-wall solution, workstation and server, based on it's best of breed directory service and the underlying Linux O/S, Suse or not.
Perhaps SCO should realise that at times like these, instead of acting like a spoilt brat and throwing the toys out of the pram, it'd be better to concentrate on it's own products and support, before the community realises that the grass is greener on the other side of the fence and leave it once and for all, because, SCO, let's face it, once they're gone, they're gone, no matter how good your next round of product releases are.