SCO Wants Summary Ruling, Wants To Appeal Unix Ownership Decision

An anonymous reader writes "SCO is asking the court to enter a final judgment on the Unix ownership issues so that it can seek an immediate appeal. The logic for this, according to Groklaw Editor Pamela Jones, is that SCO would rather appeal right away so it can try all its claims at IBM, should it successfully appeal the judge's order. 'Otherwise, SCO has to wait until Novell goes through trial to a verdict and then appeal, and while it is in the appeal process, IBM would go forward in its now much smaller version, based on the August 10th ruling ... The trial starts, though, in less than a month and it will last less than a week, so none of this makes any sense if you look at a calendar. I think, therefore, it must be about FUD, so it sounds like SCO is on the move again.' The text of the request is available online. "

Re:

[TheLazySci-FiAuthor]

Just SCO away already! ;)

Stick a Fork In Them

[eldavojohn]

Can't SCO just die already?

Hey, don't worry, their stock [google.com] is around 60 cents and was at 44 cents. If they drop below a quarter a share, they get delisted (just like SGI). As far as Wall Street (and investors are concerned), you might as well be dead once that happens.

You can tell how much each of their moves is worth by watching their stock. Lose the Unix case, your stock drops from $1.56 to $0.44. Make a shill appeal and win back 16 cents. Laughable at best.

Annoying? Yes. Something to worry about? Not at all in my opinion.

These have been considered junk stocks for awhile. Now they're simply laughable junk stocks. Expect to see them in your spam e-mails with scams claiming they'll be opening at a nickel and closing at a dime.

Re:

[joeldg]

they are probably doing a hail-mary to try and keep from being de-listed ;)

hehehe.. I like the thought of them being de-listed ... oh' glorious day that will be..

Re:

[pete6677]

Especially if their ticker changes back to SCOXE. It rhymes with a well known horror-show website that describes what will happen to Darl soon.

Re:

[iminplaya]

Hey, penny stocks are not the worst investments you can make. You can net a "pretty penny" if you have a good sense of timing.

Re:

[pwizard2]

Hey, penny stocks are not the worst investments you can make. You can net a "pretty penny" if you have a good sense of timing.

The main obstacle is the hyper-volatility of penny stocks... since things can change so fast it's almost necessary to be able to execute trades in real-time.

Another problem that plagues a lot of penny stocks is a lack of liquidity with the brokerage firms.

Re:

[u-235-sentinel]

These have been considered junk stocks for awhile. Now they're simply laughable junk stocks. Expect to see them in your spam e-mails with scams claiming they'll be opening at a nickel and closing at a dime.

I guess this means it's too late to sell and make a few bucks?

Yes, that was a joke ;-)

Re:

[Zontar_Thing_From_Ve]

Hey, don't worry, their stock is around 60 cents and was at 44 cents. If they drop below a quarter a share, they get delisted (just like SGI). As far as Wall Street (and investors are concerned), you might as well be dead once that happens.

You can tell how much each of their moves is worth by watching their stock. Lose the Unix case, your stock drops from $1.56 to $0.44. Make a shill appeal and win back 16 cents. Laughable at best.

SCO is the perfect example of how the stock market makes no sense. After t

Re:

[nuzak]

> there appear to be many people out there who still think that SCOX has value.

Las Vegas is proof that people think slot machines have value. It's speculation, not a value investment.

Re:

[hawk]

Maybe if you make that "Indian casinos".

Las Vegas is not in the same business as Indian and other local casinos and lotteries. They are in the gambling business, while we are in the fantasy business.
-
People play there trying to win; people come here (typically) knowing how much they will lose (with a hope to beat the odds). They get off the plane or climb out of the car, and for however many days, they're in a fantasy world.

The best example may be the guys that would never step foot in a bimbo joint, but

Re:

[pal3f]

Maybe it's not such a bad idea: get your upgrade now, and then you end up not having to pay all those months of maintenance and service that you contracted for!

Re:

[RobertLTux]

are they crazy?? rich russians may or may not be more Family than Comrades (so how do you say Speak Softly Love in russian?)

Re:

[twistedcubic]

Does that make any rational sense? It doesn't to me, yet there appear to be many people out there who still think that SCOX has value.

Actually, for those who bought at $0.44/share, their investment is worth $0.68/share now-- a 54.5% increase in value, in about a week. There are lots of investors who buy when they think the stock is at its lowest possible value (short term or long term). Yes, they're taking a risk, but whether they think SCOX "has value" is irrelevant. I think history tells us that S

Re:

[ErroneousBee]

Does that make any rational sense? It doesn't to me, yet there appear to be many people out there who still think that SCOX has value.

So who do you imagine thinks SCO has any value?

Re:

[rtechie]

I think the other poster was on the right track. Clearly the management at SCO doesn't give a damn about the company and are operating in cahoots with the lawyers trying to bleed what's left through salaries and legal fees. They're probably shorting the stock too. At some point maybe the shareholders thought they could get some value out of the company through IP, but now it's just about the executives getting paid to do essentially nothing.

Re: delisting

[durdur]

A buck is the threshold for delisting, not $0.25. But the exchange can agree to delay the delisting. It is not automatic.

Also this is the least of SCO's worries. Quite a few companies have been delisted, at least temporarily, and survived. It doesn't change their finances in any direct way.

The real problem is, SCO may wind up owing Novell the money they obtained from selling licenses to Sun and Microsoft - money they no longer have. Then they are bankrupt.

Re:

[commodoresloat]

their stock is around 60 cents and was at 44 cents.

Holy shit! It's going up!!

Re:

[Chris Mattern]

Hey, don't worry, their stock is around 60 cents and was at 44 cents. If they drop below a quarter a share, they get delisted (just like SGI). As far as Wall Street (and investors are concerned), you might as well be dead once that happens.

Really, they stop taking you seriously if you go under $1 a share. You might not be delisted, but "penny stocks" are rarely given serious consideration by anybody but fools and scammers.

Chris Mattern

Your Ideas Intrigue Me & I Wish to SUBSCRIBE

[eldavojohn]

d00d, i see you're a subscriber.

Yeah, the $5 was a lot. I mean, it was a lot! Nearly broke me if I recall. Then I had to go into my user preferences and set it to never use my subscription pages. What brown nosing work! That one time fee of five American dollars is quite the payment, but I think if you ask them real nice, they may be able to work out a payment or leasing plan for you. Look into it.

i just wanted to know, can you tell me what it's like to be a complete fucking limpwristed brown noser?

Somedays it's really really hard. I mean, I think to myself, "How can I add to the conversation surrounding this story?" More importantly, I try to make it a rule to post only once to each story because if someone can refute my ideas then I should have prepared for that. I don't just value the ability to hold an opinion, but more so the ability to see all points of view and take them into consideration on your initial assessment of the situation. I'm a big fan of General Buck Turgeson and so I "Hate to judge before all the facts are in," and therefore, I consider my best comments to be those with little or no responses. I've been wrong thousands of times, was even wrong in the above post in that I thought delisting status came at under a quarter, not a dollar. But, hell, someone corrected me, good for them. Can't argue stuff like that. A lot of times, I don't even post I just read others comments because I really don't have anything to add (imagine that!).

As for my limp wrists, I'm quite sensitive about that and I would appreciate it if you left that out of the conversation. I had a freak teapot lifting accident when I was 8 and ever since then, I haven't been able to lift my knuckles above my ulnae & radii. Go ahead and laugh, all the kids did, I've learned to deal with it and push on. Oftentimes when I look in the mirror I see a fat, slower, stupider Lance Armstrong looking back at me. If Lance beat cancer, I can with God's help beat this horrible limp wrist affliction. Don't even get me started on the birthmark on my nose.

you're so fucking pathetic that it nearly makes me ill.

Well, go ahead and add me to your foes and give your foes a -5 modifier. You'll never see my comments again. You do know that Slashdot has that feature, right? I don't understand why it makes you ill. Did I crawl the intarweb to your computer and force you to read my comments and apply them to your skin or else you get the hose again? Truly baffling to me that my posts have the power to be an ailment.

So tell me, oh valued Anonymous Coward, what did you add to the conversation with your comment?

Re:

[joss]

I like the way you think. You could probably get a good job with the Administration if you're interested.

Re:

[BlackRookSix]

Aha! We've now discovered what SCOX employees are doing with their workdays!

Settlement

[COMON$]

There is NO WAY a settlement could possibly pay for the cost of this legal fiasco. SCO's dignity was shot a long time ago, even if they do prove their case they will still look like an ass and their ship will sink.

Re:Settlement

[Xtifr]

It's not about the company any more making money any more. Bankruptcy is pretty much a foregone conclusion at this point. However, the longer the company holds on, the longer the money it technically shouldn't have any more can be spent on executive salaries (and bonuses--Darl has earned all sorts of bonuses for his "creative" approach to company management).

Re:

[COMON$]

Exactly, I am not a business guru, but the only positive I can see with that company is padding the executive's pockets. If I were an engineer or dev at SCO I would be fleeing.

Re:

[mandolin]

Any engineer or dev worthy of the title should have fled SCO years ago, or at least tried to (maybe the Lindon, UT job market is really awful, or something).

Re:

[WPIDalamar]

I'd love to get on any project at SCO with a 6 month+ timeframe.

You wouldn't have to do anything!

Re:

[Doctor O]

If I were an engineer or dev at SCO I would be fleeing.

That's the case for years now - how long is this madness going on now?

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Patents?

[Hyram Graff]

Why is this marked as patents? There is nothing about patents in the case, it's all about copyright and contracts.

Re:

[jabuzz]

I believe that IBM picked four of it's patents and used them as part of their counter claims. Not entirely sure what became of that part of the case however.

IBM dropped their patent counterclaims

[stites]

"I believe that IBM picked four of it's patents and used them as part of their counter claims. Not entirely sure what became of that part of the case however."

IBM dropped their patent counterclaims some time ago.

-----------------
Steve Stites

Wrong, ill tell you what SCO want

[unity100]

they want a good old fashioned beating with baseball bats or whips. preferrably in amish country.

Re:Wrong, ill tell you what SCO want

[CheddarHead]

Am I the only one wondering what the hell being in amish country would have to do with this?

Re:Wrong, ill tell you what SCO want

[Stanistani]

Strong arms from butter churning.

Re:

[Attila Dimedici]

The problem with that is that the Amish are "non-resistant". That means they don't beat people up, even when those people attack them.

Re:Wrong, ill tell you what SCO want

[JesseL]

That's what they tell you.

The fact that you never hear from the people who survive an Amish beat down is proof of just how brutal they really are.

Re:

[Sponge Bath]

Strong arms from "butter churning".

Is that what they call it these days?
I guess all those one handed surfers are Amish.

Amish update. . .

[Slicebo]

I dated an Amish girl, and let me tell you, it wasn't a butter churn that gave her those foreams, if you catch my drift.

Those calluses chafed, though.

Re:

[FlatLine84]

I'm pretty sure that comes from a movie... I think something with Harrison Ford.

Re:

[jamstar7]

Am I the only one wondering what the hell being in amish country would have to do with this?

Easy access to buggy whips close at hand. Ever try to find a buggy whip at Walmart???

Mormon != Amish

[sadler121]

for the last time Mormon != Amish

Re:

[C0vardeAn0nim0]

i thought the were in mormon country...

how would that be called ? mormonia ? mormoland ?

Re:

[SwordsmanLuke]

how would that be called ? mormonia ? mormoland ?

Utah.

Re:

[Chris Mattern]

i thought the were in mormon country...

how would that be called ? mormonia ? mormoland ?

Last I checked, they simply called it "Utah".

Chris Mattern

Ruling

[halcyon1234]

SCO: We want a summary judgment!

Judge: Fine. In summary, shut the fuck up.

Re:Ruling

[Slicebo]

SCO: We want a second opinion!

Judge: Fine. Your tie is ugly, too.

"Dead Cat Bounce"

[HotNeedleOfInquiry]

"Even a dead cat dropped off a roof will bounce a little" The stock will bounce up a little bit with the announcement and the investors will have a chance to mitigate their losses slightly. Yawn. /sbin/shutdown -h now

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

On a SCO OpenServer system your suggestion produces:

/sbin/shutdown: not found

Metaphor?

Re:

[HotNeedleOfInquiry]

I wished I were that clever....

Re:

[Mr. Underbridge]

"Even a dead cat dropped off a roof will bounce a little" The stock will bounce up a little bit with the announcement and the investors will have a chance to mitigate their losses slightly. Yawn. /sbin/shutdown -h now

Problem with that is that you know these clowns will surface again, buy some formerly well reputed company with a shaky claim against some cash-rich company, and try the same basic shakedown.

So it's more like: /sbin/shutdown -r now

Re:

[jamstar7]

Problem with that is that you know these clowns will surface again, buy some formerly well reputed company with a shaky claim against some cash-rich company, and try the same basic shakedown.

I thought Darl & his buddies were just scammin up all the bonuses they could sink their claws into just to not have to actually go to work again.

It'd be funny if all their bonuses were in SCOX stock with a contract to not sell before the legal system was through chewing them up & spitting them out...

Oblig. LOTR quote

[Akaihiryuu]

"He twitched because my axe is embedded in his nervous system!"

Re:

[jimicus]

Have you tested that? I'd imagine that if the cat has been dead long enough, it would land with a sort of damp splat.

Of course, they have no choice

[Opportunist]

They HAVE to appeal. Everything else would be suicide. It's all they got. It's like not appealing a death sentence. Not appealing it means that you already lost. What could they lose? Nothing. What could they gain? Survival.

Did anyone really think they wouldn't?

Re:

[Kandenshi]

[Matthias is about to be stoned to death]
Matthias: Look, I don't think it ought to be blasphemy, just saying "Jehovah".
[Everyone gasps]
Jewish Official: You're only making it worse for yourself!
Matthias: Making it worse?! How can it be worse?! Jehovah! Jehovah! Jehovah!
(Shamelessly stolen from Life of Brian [wikiquote.org])

Sorry, you just reminded me of that scene and I agree with both you and Matthias. You might as well appeal that death sentence/court judgement. As is now, they'll almost certainly burn. A small chance of success on appeal sure, but they might as well. Appealing is unlikely to land them in jail after all.

Re:

[trifish]

What could they lose?

Nerves, money for lawyers, come to mind as first.

Re:

[CodeBuster]

Appeals cost money and where is the money coming from? Investors are not irrational people...they know when to cut their loses and retire from the field.

Re:

[geekoid]

well, they would save that sliver of dignity they have left.

OTOH:
Dignity -- Always a little left to loose.

Re:

[pipingguy]

Nothing about this case is appealing (it's rather rather appalling) but lots of appealing is going on.

This is SCO stalling for time...again

[HangingChad]

SCO knows their appeal has about as much chance as being stuck in a snowstorm on sunny July day in downtown Dallas. This is SCO trying to get the trial date pushed back far enough they can suck as much cash value out of the company as possible before filing for bankruptcy protection.

If they lose now they'll leave behind a chunk of cash.

Hopefully the appeals court opts not to review the case and SCO is dead by Christmas. What a nice present that would be for the holidays.

Stalling for time?

[p3d0]

Is there anything else to stall for?

Re:

[RobertLTux]

There was a filing in the IBM V TSCOG case if the judge agrees with IBM filing then TSCOG can fail to appeal the IBM case at the same time.
the question was given the PSJ filings what is left in the TSCOG V IBM case (since the matter has overlap)

IBM : Nothing left

TSCOG: the Dog ate my homework
i would expect a PSJ filing in the IBM case oh say friday at 05:00 EDT so whats the line on SCOX being delisted by next tuesday (i would bet on a STOP TRADE order by 03:00 on next monday)?

Re:

[Esion Modnar]

and SCO is dead by Christmas. What a nice present that would be for the holidays.

All I want for Christmas is Darl's two front teeth.

SCO's lawyers should stop bilking SCO

[gatkinso]

I mean come on guys, haven't you lead them on enough already?

The Gift of the SCO Lawsuit

[fishyfool]

In which we find out just how long one can beat a dead horse in the US Court System..

If this is granted

[Kilz]

The next move from SCO will be a motion to stay everything while they appeal. That will delay everything, which is exactly what SCO wants. They should be made to wait and appeal after they have lost everything.

I, for one,

[iminplaya]

am impressed.

Bet you thought I was going to say something else, huh?... Gotcha.

Anyway, if nothing else, they are tenacious. A rather virtuous trait in most instances. Forget all that crap about dignity and credibility. This is about money. And somebody's doing pretty well for for it. So get some more popcorn, sit back, and enjoy the show. This is what IP law is all about. I'm not sure what else you could expect, but this is what you get from it.

Re:

[fritsd]

If you're an USian, you might as well sit back and enjoy the show -- your tax money paid for it!

Timing

[RelliK]

SCOX has just filed this motion. Novell gets 15 days to reply, which puts the deadline in the second week of september. Then SCOX gets 7 days to reply to Novell. But the trial is scheduled to begin on september 17. The easiest thing for the judge to do is deny SCOX's motion as moot and say "don't worry, you'll get your final judgment soon enough".

What do SCO execs do all day?

[astrashe]

If you're in upper management at SCO, what do you do all day? Wait for the lawyers to call with an update about how it's going?

If they didn't appeal, I guess the people still on staff would have to go out and get new jobs. That seems inevitable, but I guess they want to put it off.

It must be a really strange place to work now.

Re:

[couchslug]

"If you're in upper management at SCO, what do you do all day? "

If I had a job that paid well and required little, I'd enjoy the paycheck "all day".
If I'm not personally breaking any laws, what do I care what happens to the company?
Companies are expendable.

a good bargain

[Tsiangkun]

$0.46 a share !!!

It's time to start framing the certificates and moving
them on eBay for $10 each !

Re:

[Anonymous Cowpat]

That's my idea! I posted it anonymously a few weeks ago, I'm going to sue!

It's buried somewhere in the original post announcing SCO's losing - go and get me all the comments and I'll show you it in there somewhere. Obviously, it's just a couple of lines...

Best. Tag. Ever.

[David Gould]

undeadhorse

This is the first time I've wished I could mod a tag "+1, Funny". (Or should that be "Insightful"? Damn, I can never decide.) Whoever did that, thank you.

Re:

[gbobeck]

I agree with you. I used to use "hellnoiwontsco" as my tag for sco related fudicles, but undeadhorse is so much better.

I better call my broker

[517714]

I better latch onto some of that SCOX stock before it the run-up.

yeah and I would like to appeal my ownership of...

[DragonTHC]

I would like to appeal my ownership of Microsoft.

If SCO can convince a court that they own UNIX, then I can convince a court that I own Microsoft.

I once decided that I owned Microsoft.

Bring out your dead!

[Stormwatch]

SCO: I'm not dead!
Nasdaq: What?
Groklaw: Nothing. Here's your ninepence.
SCO: I'm not dead!
Nasdaq: 'Ere. He says he's not dead!
Groklaw: Yes, he is.
SCO: I'm not!
Nasdaq: He isn't?
Groklaw: Well, he will be soon. He's very ill.
SCO: I'm getting better!
Groklaw: No, you're not. You'll be stone dead in a moment.

SCO response

[stdazi]

Anyone read SCO's response ? http://www.sco.com/company/news/Letter%20to%20SCO% 20Customers%20and%20Partners.pdf [sco.com]

NOW IBM might finally have a reason...

[ardle]

... to buy SCO out ;-)

Re:

[elronxenu]

If IBM buys SCO then IBM becomes responsible for the lawsuits ... not good. And SCO's shareholders get enriched ... also not good.

No, IBM's best course of action is to keep going and eventually the court will judge in favour of IBM and award IBM anything remaining from the dust which is SCO. It is likely however that Novell will claim all remaining assets first, so IBM will not be able to recover the many millions it spent in legal fees (and the cost of the time spent answering discovery requests and so o

SCO wins?

[bvimo]

What if SCO wins? How will it affect me a Kubuntu user?

Re:

[JoelKatz]

The short answer is that this won't affect you. You only have to respect patents and copyrights. Third parties can basically ignore contractual obligations.

If you look closely, you will see that SCO is making all kinds of allegations. But it's not saying "Linux violates our patent number X,YZT,ABC" or "Linux contains code that we hold copyright to". It's saying, "other companies violated their contracts with us".

These kinds of claims have no effect on innocent third parties, unlike patent and copyright clai