SCO Licenses Now Available

wes33 writes "Now available at the SCO website, genuine licenses permitting you to use SCO IP that is 'necessary for you to run Linux'. And they take VISA. Looks like they're saying that any code that is similar to Unix code counts as their Unix code!? Actually, the agreement needs analysis. It looks to me that you're paying for a pig in a poke, but IANAL. Here's some of the meat: '"UNIX-based Code'" shall mean any Code or Method that: (i) in its literal or non-literal expression, structure, format, use, functionality or adaptation (ii) is based on, developed in, derived from or is similar to (iii) any Code contained in or Method devised or developed in (iv) UNIX System V or UnixWare(R), or (v) any modification or derivative work based on or licensed under UNIX System V or UnixWare. ... Provided You pay the applicable license fee and complete the required registration of the COLA, SCO grants You the right to use all, or portions of, the SCO IP only as necessary to use the Operating System on each System for which the appropriate CPUs have been licensed from SCO.'" The linked page says this so-called license applies only to commercial use.

Pricing and Binary only?

[vadius]

The pricing is $199 for a desktop box, and between $620-$750 per CPU for servers, depending on how many you have. Also, the license says that this is for binaries only (not the source).

SCO IP Licence instead?

[Anonymous Coward]

I think the original article may have been looking for http://www.thescogroup.com/scosource/linuxlicensen ew.html instead, which would be the $699 IP license.

In any event it looks like SCO is finally allowing people to buy the licenses from them. Now I suppose it gets serious.

Potential ramifications?

[Shoten]

I know a good bit of law, but this is out of my range. It does sound to me that there's a very high chance that (even if their claims are correct) they're accepting money to license something that isn't theirs to license, provided there's just one UNIX System V-like option out there that doesn't include any of their code. Is this not a criminal act, or at the very least an actionable one?

How is this legal?

[Magila]

Even if we make the big assumption that SCO does own the rights to some of the code in Linux, there's still a lot of legit GPL code there. If you license their code you can no longer use that with the rest of Linux since you'd be linking code under a non-GPL compatible license with GPLed code. But then IANAL.

wrong pricing?

[maliabu]

SCO must be charging the licenses too cheaply, as reflected by its stock price [yahoo.com] :)

The EULA

[Joey Patterson]

THE SCO GROUP, INC.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LICENSE

IMPORTANT, READ CAREFULLY ALL TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THIS LICENSE AGREEMENT ("AGREEMENT") WHICH HAS BEEN PROVIDED TO YOU AND IS INCLUDED WITH THE CERTIFICATE OF LICENSE AUTHENTICITY ("COLA"). BY EXERCISING YOUR RIGHTS UNDER THIS LICENSE, YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU HAVE READ THIS AGREEMENT AND UNDERSTAND IT, AND YOU AGREE TO BE BOUND BY ITS TERMS AND CONDITIONS. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT, DO NOT USE THE RIGHTS GRANTED HEREUNDER IN ANY MANNER.

YOU UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT SCO MAKES NO GRANT OF RIGHTS OR WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED WITH RESPECT TO ANY SOFTWARE OTHER THAN THE SCO INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY DEFINED BY THIS AGREEMENT.

This Agreement does not include any rights to access, use, modify or distribute any SCO source code in any form under any licensing arrangement.

DEFINITIONS

"Agreement" is the contract between you ("You") and The SCO Group, Inc. ("SCO"), relating to the rights acquired by You. The Agreement comprises (i) this document, (ii) any amendments agreed by both You and SCO in writing and (iii) any additional terms and conditions included in the COLA. Such additional terms may pertain, without limitation, to the following: term, fees and payment, number of permitted CPUs, registration requirements, restriction on runtime environment and transfer of Your rights.

"Code" shall mean computer programming instructions.

"CPU " shall mean a single physical computer processor.

"Desktop System" means a single user computer workstation controlled by a single instance of the Operating System. It may provide personal productivity applications, web browsers and other client interfaces (e.g., mail, calendering, instant messaging, etc). It may not host services for clients on other systems.

"Method" shall mean the human or machine methodology for, or approach to, design, structure, modification, upgrade, de-bugging, tuning, improvement, or adaptation of Code.

"Object Code" shall mean the Code that results when Source Code is processed by a software compiler and is directly executable by a computer.

"Operating System" shall mean software operating system Code (or Code that substantially performs the functions of an operating system) that is a distribution, rebranding, modification or derivative work of the Linux(R) operating system.

"SCO IP" shall mean the SCO intellectual property included in its UNIX-based Code in Object Code format licensed by SCO under SCO's standard commercial license.

"Software" shall mean the Operating System in Object Code format.

"Source Code" shall mean the human-readable form of the Code and related system documentation, including all comments and any procedural language.

"System" shall mean a computer system, containing the licensed CPUs, controlled by a single instance of the Operating System.

"UNIX-based Code" shall mean any Code or Method that: (i) in its literal or non-literal expression, structure, format, use, functionality or adaptation (ii) is based on, developed in, derived from or is similar to (iii) any Code contained in or Method devised or developed in (iv) UNIX System V or UnixWare(R), or (v) any modification or derivative work based on or licensed under UNIX System V or UnixWare.

"Update" shall mean the updates or revisions in Object Code format of the Software that You may receive. Update shall not include any alteration, modification or derivative work of the Operating System prepared by You.

GRANT OF RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS

Provided You comply fully with this Grant of Rights and Obligations, SCO will not consider such use of the SCO IP licensed by You under this Agreement to be in violation of SCO's intellectual property ownership or rights.

SCO grants You and You accept from SCO, the following limited, non-exclusive rights. This Agreement does not grant a right to receive any distribution of software from SCO or any other thir

Re:Price

[Wakkow]

Well that doesn't seem to stop them [google.com]...

Re:windows any one?

[yamla]

They have long claimed that Windows was not immune from their claims. In fact, they continued to state this even after Microsoft invested money in them.

Re:What is wrong with the US

[Anonymous Coward]

"Every country OTHER then the US has prevented SCO from persuing this trash licensing [theft]..."

And by "Every country other then the US", you must mean "Germany and Australia", because they're the only ones who have enjoined SCO from trying to sell licenses.

SCO Code of Conduct and Ethics

[Jayfar]

The store seems a wee bit hesitant, but while waiting for it to try to load I stumbled across this lovely pdf, linked from their legal page. I'm sure I'm among the last to notice it, but really, why would anyone think that sco would have a Code of Conduct and Ethics [thescogroup.com], just like a real company?

Figuring which parts of it Darl and minions are in flagrant violation of is left as an exercise for the reader

SCO license now required for ANY OS?

[El]

similar to (iii) any Code contained in or Method devised or developed in (iv) UNIX System V Sounds like a description of vxWorks or any of the other embedded OSes that pride themselves on being "just like Unix". As I read this, you now need an SCO license to run vxWorks... I wonder how Wind River feels about this? And isn't BSD pretty "simular to...UNIX System V" too? How Fortunate for Microsoft that they already bought their license to use BSD code...

Re:So lets suppose I buy one.

[PowerBert]

Well I keep sending them my address and asking them to invoice me, but they don't return my calls. At this rate I'll never be able to sue them.

I've given up on the UK OFT as they want to wait for the trial to finish, even though SCO said they would be selling licenses here from February. I despise them almost as much as SCO.

Hate is a powerful emotion, I must thank SCO for introducing us. I'm grinding my teeth and refraining from writing obscenities right now. ARGGGHHHHH!

Re:How is this legal?

[Anonymous Coward]

For those playing along at home, the answer is that the result is legal to use, illegal to distribute. (Similar to KDE before QT was re-released with the option of using the GPL, as the QPL was and is GPL-incompatible.)

Re:But...

[theRiallatar]

Actually, if you do have confederate currency, chances are a collector would be willing to pay some ridiculous amount of money for that. I'd advise against sending it to SCO.

Whoa whoa whoa!

[rhizome]

Hey, how about a refund of all fees ever paid if it turns out they have no claim? That is, all SCOSource fees should be payment for indemnification in the case that SCO IP is absent from *nix.

Re:According to Netcraft...

[Anonymous Coward]

> From Netcraft:
> The site shop.sco.com is running unknown on Linux.

After many connection attempts, I managed to get an response from this poor tortured server (500 Internal Server Error). It reported that the server is running "Apache/1.3.14 Server at shop.sco.com Port 80".

(+1 Informative here I come!)

Re:As I've said before...

[God! Awful 2]

Licensing linux code from SCO invalidates the GPL on the rest of the kernel code. The licenses are not compatible. You will never get hundreds of kernel developers to re-license the code for your use. If you really think you need to buy this, give up. Install FreeBSD.

AFAIK, the GPL doesn't prevent you from *using* a program that infringes on patents or copyrights, it only prevents you from distributing said code. So your license to use the code cannot be revoked just because you stupidly decided to take out a license from SCO.

-a

OMFG

[Anonymous Coward]

Read the FAQ on that site...just a taste of the garbage in it:

#

How can SCO expect me to purchase a license when its case with IBM hasn't been resolved yet? What if SCO loses its case against IBM? Will it reimburse Linux customers who purchased a SCO IP License?

Some Linux users have the misunderstanding that the SCO IP License hinges on the outcome of the SCO vs. IBM case. If that case were completely removed, Linux end users would still need to purchase a license from SCO to use the SCO IP found in Linux. The IBM case surrounds misuse of derivative works of SCO UNIX. It does not change the fact that line-by-line SCO IP code is found in Linux. The copied code includes copyrighted headers and other proprietary UNIX source code.

Re:Pricing and Binary only?

[VivianC]

You probably need IE to use the site.

I had wondered the same thing after I posted so I fired up my copy of IE6 on Win2K and tried. It can't find the server SHOP.SCO.COM. Oh well. I'll just keep my money.

Re:How is this legal?

[LordLucless]

Yeah, but at least the moderators think you're an Informative idiot.

Re:But...

[Micah]

> So you can't trade a property with a hotel on it unless you trade all the properties of the same color.

No "unless" about it. You can't trade a property with a house or hotel, period. All buildings in the color group must be sold at half price before any property is traded, and the new owner may then buy them at full price (if he has the whole set).

-- Micah the Monopoly guru (now if he could just find someone else who wants to play it right...)

old Unix sources released under BSDlicense in 2002

[wotevah]

http://www.linuxarkivet.nu/mlists/openbsd-announce /02/msg00001.html

> From: Dion Johnson <[e-mail]>
> To: [e-mail]
> Date: Wed, 23 Jan 2002 15:03:37 -0800
> Subject: Liberal license for ancient UNIX sources
> Dear Warren, and friends,
>
> I'm happy to let you know that Caldera International has placed
> the ancient UNIX releases (V1-7 and 32V) under a "BSD-style" license.
> I've attached a PDF of the license letter hereto.

Feels like it happened such a long time ago...

What about indemnification?

[belmolis]

If I understand the limitation of liability clause, SCO refuses to indemnify licensees if they should prove unable to use the product or otherwise incur damages due to IP issues. Not only is there the little problem of the GPL, but we can't be sure that there isn't a little infringment lurking in SCO's past, can we? If indemnification is so important for open source vendors, how come it isn't for SCO? What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.

Where do I sign up?

[Pan T. Hose]

I was just thinking, wouldn't it be tragic if 100,000 signups occurred but they were all random data filled in by an automated testing bot.

Where do I sign up? The host shop.sco.com [sco.com] (linked from How to purchase and activate a SCO IP License [thescogroup.com] website) is up and running, but with port 80 closed! What is going on? See:

pth@sd:~$ nmap -vp80 shop.sco.com

Starting nmap V. 2.54BETA31 ( www.insecure.org/nmap/ )
No tcp,udp, or ICMP scantype specified, assuming vanilla tcp connect() scan. Use -sP if you really don't want to portscan (and just want to see what hosts are up).
Warning: You are not root -- using TCP pingscan rather than ICMP
Host shop.sco.com (216.250.128.240) appears to be up ... good.
Initiating Connect() Scan against shop.sco.com (216.250.128.240)
The Connect() Scan took 0 seconds to scan 1 ports.
The 1 scanned port on shop.sco.com (216.250.128.240) is: closed

Nmap run completed -- 1 IP address (1 host up) scanned in 2 seconds
pth@sd:~$

Is that another desperate PR stunt? I would like to buy a license, to sue them in the future for selling it to me. My lawyer adviced me that it would be a better investment than SCO stock, especially in the case of class action lawsuit. Does anyone has any comments about their EULA [thescogroup.com]? Is it legally binding? If so, then would it be enforceable? And the most important question: Where do I sign up? Thanks.

Re:ken, dmr, bwk

[innocent_white_lamb]

I am sure they don't want to get involved, but this can't be in the spirit they built up the whole thing once upon a time?

You mean the spirit of what AT&T tells them to build?

It's worse than that...

[Anonymous Coward]

They don't actually mention Linux except by reference to "Operating System". This licence is not offering anything. It's only a "licence" to not be sued. So! Their only product really is barratry, after all.

THE SCO GROUP, INC.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LICENSE

IMPORTANT, READ CAREFULLY ALL TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THIS LICENSE AGREEMENT ("AGREEMENT") WHICH HAS BEEN PROVIDED TO YOU AND IS INCLUDED WITH THE CERTIFICATE OF LICENSE AUTHENTICITY ("COLA"). BY EXERCISING YOUR RIGHTS UNDER THIS LICENSE, YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU HAVE READ THIS AGREEMENT AND UNDERSTAND IT, AND YOU AGREE TO BE BOUND BY ITS TERMS AND CONDITIONS. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT, DO NOT USE THE RIGHTS GRANTED HEREUNDER IN ANY MANNER.

YOU UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT SCO MAKES NO GRANT OF RIGHTS OR WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED WITH RESPECT TO ANY SOFTWARE OTHER THAN THE SCO INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY DEFINED BY THIS AGREEMENT.

This Agreement does not include any rights to access, use, modify or distribute any SCO source code in any form under any licensing arrangement.

DEFINITIONS

"Agreement" is the contract between you ("You") and The SCO Group, Inc. ("SCO"), relating to the rights acquired by You. The Agreement comprises (i) this document, (ii) any amendments agreed by both You and SCO in writing and (iii) any additional terms and conditions included in the COLA. Such additional terms may pertain, without limitation, to the following: term, fees and payment, number of permitted CPUs, registration requirements, restriction on runtime environment and transfer of Your rights.

"Code" shall mean computer programming instructions.

"CPU " shall mean a single physical computer processor.

"Desktop System" means a single user computer workstation controlled by a single instance of the Operating System. It may provide personal productivity applications, web browsers and other client interfaces (e.g., mail, calendering, instant messaging, etc). It may not host services for clients on other systems.

"Method" shall mean the human or machine methodology for, or approach to, design, structure, modification, upgrade, de-bugging, tuning, improvement, or adaptation of Code.

"Object Code" shall mean the Code that results when Source Code is processed by a software compiler and is directly executable by a computer.

"Operating System" shall mean software operating system Code (or Code that substantially performs the functions of an operating system) that is a distribution, rebranding, modification or derivative work of the Linux(R) operating system.

"SCO IP" shall mean the SCO intellectual property included in its UNIX-based Code in Object Code format licensed by SCO under SCO's standard commercial license.

"Software" shall mean the Operating System in Object Code format.

"Source Code" shall mean the human-readable form of the Code and related system documentation, including all comments and any procedural language.

"System" shall mean a computer system, containing the licensed CPUs, controlled by a single instance of the Operating System.

"UNIX-based Code" shall mean any Code or Method that: (i) in its literal or non-literal expression, structure, format, use, functionality or adaptation (ii) is based on, developed in, derived from or is similar to (iii) any Code contained in or Method devised or developed in (iv) UNIX System V or UnixWare(R), or (v) any modification or derivative work based on or licensed under UNIX System V or UnixWare.

"Update" shall mean the updates or revisions in Object Code format of the Software that You may receive. Update shall not include any alteration, modification or derivative work of the Operating System prepared by You.

GRANT OF RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS

Provided You comply fully with this Grant of Rights and Obligations, SCO will not consider such use of the SCO IP licensed by You under this Agreement to be in vi

Re:But...

[Anonymous Coward]

Actaully confederate currency is fairly common, even 140 years later. They printed SHITLOADS of it. I lived just outside little rock for several years, and all the coin dealers there had some for sale cheep. If you live down south, pop into any coin store. They'll have a section of confederate bills. Now confederate COINS on the other hand, are indeed quite scarce, and worth quite a bit. They're scarce largely for the same reason we had steel pennies and silver nickles in ww2, the metals that would have been used for dies and coins was needed for bullets, as were the craftsmen that would have been able to make the dies and presses for the coins.

UK people....

[jotaeleemeese]

What are you waiting for? Complain! [consumerco...nts.org.uk]

I just made my complain, the details of SCO in the UK are the following:

Trader's Name
SCO

Trader's Address:
Titan Court
3 Bishop Square
Hatfield Business Park
Hatfield

Trader's Phone No
01707 226014

Trader's Fax No
01707 226190

I verified the phone number and it is current.

Remember, this company is trying to charge you for something whose owenrship is dubious to say the least. I equalled it with somebody tryng to sell you the right to "Lord of the Rings" without showing he actually has the legal rights to do so.

Complain! It takes 5 minutes and could help (for once let the goverment do something useful).

Re:It's worse than that...

[Harker]

Provided You pay the applicable license fee and complete the required registration of the COLA, SCO grants You the right to use all, or portions of, the SCO IP only as necessary to use the Operating System on each System for which the appropriate CPUs have been licensed from SCO as designated on the COLA, for the applicable server or desktop system. You must take reasonable means to assure that the number of CPUs does not exceed the permitted number of CPUs. The rights licensed by this Agreement are limited to the use of the SCO IP in conjunction with the Operating System solely in Object Code format. Right to use licenses for Desktop Systems are not usable for, or transferable for use, with other Systems.

Can that COLA be Pepsi? If so, then I'm in.

Re:Where do I sign up?

[fedork]

"My lawyer adviced me that it would be a better investment than SCO stock".

well, maybe, but I do not see how this would be a very good investment. When it all goes down on them I would not expect them to have much money left, so it would just be a bad debt...