IBM Drops Patent Counterclaims

Mr. Slant writes "According to this article on Groklaw, IBM is dropping their patent counter-claims. Why? It's not because they think they'd lose, but rather because SCO wants to waste more time litigating. There's still some question over whether SCO will be able to pay the rest of their legal bills, given how much cash they're losing each quarter." From the article: "Here's a simple rule of litigation. You never, ever offer to drop anything you think you'll need for victory or to make yourself whole. Litigation is always a cost-benefit analysis. You have to have the prospect of a sizable enough win to pay your lawyer, or you will find it hard to get one, or, like Boies Schiller, the lawyer will want its money up front. IBM did the math, and SCO isn't looking like deep pockets any more, is it, now that Boies Schiller has drained them of pretty much all they had? So, IBM's practical analysis apparently was that it's worth more to get the thing over with on time than to go after counterclaims against a defendant with no money in its pocket to pay damages or royalties, even when IBM won. Plus, there is some strategy here too. Sometimes in chess, you'll let a pawn be sacrificed to set up a checkmate."

Oh, please.

[Anonymous Coward]

Enough fanboying already. We know SCO sucks. That sort of sentiment just makes you look desperate in a very SCO-ish way.

IBM's Cunning

[Shadow Wrought]

IBM has some very smart legal folks working on their behalf and this is a pretty clever move on their side. They're not going to get money on the counterclaims to balance the cost of pursuing them and SCOX's delaying tactics have been based off of having to defend themselves against the counterclaims.

It would be intersting to know if this was IBM's strategy all along. Often time lawyers (especially prosecutors) will add extraneous items to a complaint or motion just so they can then kick it out later and look like the good guy.

SO they are either smart or really smart.

Re:So SCO gets no punishment whatsoever.

[Orgazmus]

Someone just learned a bit more about the world today? ;)

Right indeed. They actually left out part of it.

[fireboy1919]

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You have to have the prospect of a sizable enough win to pay your lawyer, or you will find it hard to get one, or, like Boies Schiller, the lawyer will want its money up front.
Either way, you will have to feed the lawyer, who hungers for souls and human flesh. It will take you if you are not careful, and in a flight of fancy it may enthrall the wicked with its bite, eventually turning innocent humans into lawyers. The only thing that keeps lawyers on your side are math, and money, and when you run out of either, the lawyers will want life-force.
IBM did the math, and SCO isn't looking like deep pockets any more, is it, now that Boies Schiller has drained them of pretty much all they had?
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The Nazgûl move in for the kill...

[NetRanger]

I think IBM has the right idea here. SCO is obviously attempting to delay the inevitable at this point, so anything that will shed complexity from this worthless case is A Good Thing(tm).

That being said, I think IBM has little worry about SCO's position at this point, as SCO is poised to burn through its remaining cash reserves RSN. I think the Nazgûl are just eager to at least recoup some legal expenses out of this row before Novell cleans the rest out.

Ahhh, see how the vultures circle the wounded animal...

We don't need no stinking nukes

[lildogie]

IBM knows they have what it takes to crush SCO, so they don't have to use the nuclear option (i.e. their patent portfolio).

Plus they want to get their revenge before SCO starves to death. No use kicking a dead horse, eh?

Re:Dear Darl & Chris,

[Anonymous Coward]

Do you think they would really allow him to operate the till?
I'd imagine he'll be the guy sweeping the floor.

Re:So SCO gets no punishment whatsoever.

[Klivian]

SCO gonna get the punished all right, IBM only dropped one of their counterclaims. As they have several more, and since SCO tried to use this one to delay even more, IBM simply dropped it counting on the others to be more than eunuch to do SCO in.

Re:So I guess lawyers have no soul?

[SoSueMe]

I would think they are a self-replicating, virul, life-form. All they seem to need is a suitable host.

Sometimes in chess?

[ShadyG]

In chess, you'll sacrifice your queen, both rooks, and every other damn piece available if it gets you a checkmate. There's no pyrrhic victory here, only win, lose, or draw. Bad analogy.

Re:Goose Gander Applied to Chess

[Samari711]

true, but completely irrelevant. IBM said they would drop the patent charges to keep things on schedule, that doesn't mean IBM can't file the charges again later. Dropping the charges saves IBM money and SCO is going to be bankrupt by the end of this anyway. IBM saves time and money while not giving up anything; SCO will probably try to spin it as IBM knows it couldn't win the patent claims but the patents are not relevant to the Linux part of the case.

Re:So I guess lawyers have no soul?

[Anonymous Coward]

1) The bad grammar was the whole point of the comment.
2) Nazis don't get the apostrophe to show plurality.

Moron.

OLD NEWS

[Original Cynic]

This was yesterday's news. Reality is that IBM was "considering" this move. At Friday's hearing the judge told the Attorneys for SCO to "get fucked" when it came to requesting more information and wanting to Disposition 25 additional people. SCO got 10 more people but so did IBM. Reality is that this doesn't do jack for SCO since they weren't given any more time to talk to these guys. It's a wash though since IBM gets to talk 10 more SCO folks. Given the attrition at SCO this means that IBM get to talk to the security guards, janitors and gardners. The judge did all of this then hinted to IBM that this was her decision regardless of IF they decided to drop their patent claims. I think we are about to see SCO go into porn mode where they get screwed by multiple parties at the same time. This should be good fun.

Re:Right indeed. They actually left out part of it

[rtb61]

Of course this doesn't mean the end of it. IBM could still go after the indivduals at SCO, you know the ones that profited from the surge in the stock price. By putting sufficient pressure on those individuals and threatening their assetts and freedom (some of their representations to the investing public would be considered highly questionable in light of the actual evidence produced) they might be able to pursue the case to another company with very deep pockets indeed (all the would have to do is prove collusion with an intent to do harm to IBM revenues). A lot of other Linux companies could also join in and well, M$ could end up M$.