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Updated: March 3, 2004
How much are you willing to wager that the SCO Group will fail in its legal endeavors against Linux users? Would you bet your job? Your business? To date, three Linux-involved companies -- Novell, HP and Sun -- have announced Linux indemnification programs designed to offer customers shelter from a possible SCO storm. RedHat, meanwhile, has promised to replace any copyright-infringing source code, while Open Source Development Labs has established a separate legal defense fund. For Linux customers, the highly fractured response on behalf of the Linux community has resulted in more questions than answers. What is indemnification? When do you need it? Are all forms of it created equal? ZDNet's David Berlind dives into this complex issue and comes up with some surprising answers.
The SCO legal train: Know your options
David Berlind: Until recently, when it comes to Linux-based solutions, just about everybody assumed that being sued for the misappropriation of intellectual property was impossible. You have one question to ask yourself: What sort of peace of mind do you have now and how much more are you willing to spend for a little extra?
A primer on indemnification Attorney Joe Rosenbaum details the questions you should be asking before you accept a solution provider's offer of indemnity.
EV1's SCO license decision focuses on 'business certainty'
David Berlind: In the same week that SCO filed its first lawsuits against Linux-using enterprises AutoZone DaimlerChrysler, EV1Server.net became the first company to go on record as signing a license to use Linux. Don't let these latest developments force a premature decision about mitigating the SCO risk. Here's why.
Is Red Hat the canary in SCO's coal mine? If a problem comes up, Red Hat will replace the infringing code at no additional cost. But what good is a guarantee to replace infringing code if that turns out to not be enough to satisfy SCO or the courts?
Instead of indemnification, consider 'open source insurance' Open Source Risk Management's Daniel Egger plans to offer a form of open source insurance that offers total peace of mind to anybody running any open source software on any number of computers.
What did SCO buy? Unix or the Brooklyn Bridge? David Berlind isn’t convinced that there will be a landslide against SCO. Nor is he convinced that SCO will win. This case will primarily come down to a judge’s interpretation of the terms of Novell’s sale of Unix to The SCO Group.
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