SCO charges IBM with more injury

SEATTLE: The SCO Group Inc. on Friday added two claims of copyright infringement to its year-old, $3 billion lawsuit against IBM, lifting potential damages to $5 billion, according to court documents.

The Lindon, Utah software company launched its lawsuit against International Business Machines Corp. nearly a year ago, claiming that IBM breached trade secrets by using parts of the Unix operating system, which SCO claims to own, in software that eventually wound up in Linux, the operating system that can be used and modified freely.

In the latest volley, SCO is claiming in two counts that IBM had infringed on its copyright to Unix, which is the core issue in the dispute over whether Linux contains copyrighted software code.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Brooke Wells in Salt Lake City, Utah, is expected to rule within a week whether SCO will be allowed to add the new claims to its ongoing lawsuit against the world's largest computer company.

SCO spokesman Mark Modersitzki said SCO's amended claims were focused on its copyright claims, adding that the company was in a "holding pattern" until the judge's ruling.

IBM has countersued SCO, which has also threatened to sue businesses using Linux unless they pay a license fee. SCO also faces lawsuits from other Linux-related businesses.

More businesses have been adopting Linux to reduce their information technology costs.

Last month, SCO sued Novell Inc., claiming that the business software maker was blocking its efforts to collect licensing fees from users of Linux.

© Reuters