SCO Files For Bankruptcy Protection
from the we-will-prevail,-huh? dept
From the beginning of SCO's rather odd strategy of claiming ownership of the intellectual property found in Linux, the company has (often pompously) declared that in the end it will be vindicated and that there was no way anyone could conclude that it wasn't the rightful owner. What was amazing was how the company continued to state the same thing in the face of increasing evidence that the claims could not be supported. Then, last month, a judge ruled that SCO didn't even own some of the copyrights it claimed to. Instead, those were possessed by Novell. Monday the two firms were supposed to be in court to figure out how much SCO now owed Novell, but that's going to take a back seat to the news that SCO has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The announcement uses the typical "hoping to reorganize" type language, but it seems pretty clear the company (which was already looking somewhat shaky in terms of its financials) would rather not have to pay Novell... or deal with the fact that it may owe quite a bit in the other lawsuits its involved in, which are likely to fall apart without these particular copyrights. It's a nice strategy, really. Claim ownership and sue lots of big companies. Hype up how sure you are that you're going to win. Watch your stock price rise... so you can sell shares and make some money. Then, as the whole house of cards collapses, just declare bankruptcy.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: bankruptcy, lawsuits
Companies: ibm, novell, sco
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It was meant to happen...
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Im glad
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Just Desserts
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Re: Just Desserts
No, unfortunately, most of them won't. A lot of investors got rich off of the SCO saga. The laws being what they are, SCO execs and their handlers will never see the inside of a court (or jail cell) for their part.
The rest are just laughing all the way to the bank...
Its a victory, and I'm very happy to see SCO go down...but its a hollow victory because the actual PEOPLE who made this farce happen will get away with it.
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Good riddance
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But...
It's a nice strategy, really. Claim ownership and sue lots of big companies. Hype up how sure you are that you're going to win. Watch your stock price rise... so you can sell shares and make some money. Then, as the whole house of cards collapses, just declare bankruptcy.
Isn't that illegal? Artificially raising your stock value to sell it off quickly is like pumping and dumping stock right?
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Re: But...
Now, if only we can get Microsoft to play nice and tell us exactly which patents Linux supposedly infringes... or is that, like the "Millions of lines" of code SCO had found, pure hyperbole.
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All Upside
It's a gamble with no downside. It's gambling with OPM. It's rotten.
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The RIAA will be next...
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!
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Where is M$ in all this?
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