DaimlerChrysler responds to SCO lawsuit

IDG News Service - DaimlerChrysler AG has asked a Michigan court to dismiss a lawsuit brought against it by Unix vendor The SCO Group Inc., saying there is "no genuine issue of material fact" in SCO's case.
Last month, SCO filed a lawsuit against the auto manufacturer in the Circuit Court for the County of Oakland, Mich., claiming that DaimlerChrysler had refused to provide "certification of compliance" indicating that it was in compliance with a Unix licensing agreement from November 1990 (see story).
In court filings dated April 15, however, DaimlerChrysler argues that although it has no obligation to provide SCO with the certification, it has indeed done so. "DaimlerChrysler has provided SCO with the only certification required under the license demonstrating that DaimlerChrysler is not even using and has not used the licensed software for more than seven years," the company said.
The filings refer to two letters sent by DaimlerChrysler to Bill Broderick, Lindon, Utah-based SCO's director of software licensing, and dated April 6, said DaimlerChrysler spokeswoman Mary Gauthier.
One of the letters, written by Norman Powell, DaimlerChrysler's senior manager of technology services, and addressed to Unix System Laboratories Inc. in Summit, N.J., certifies that DaimlerChrysler is no longer using the software licensed under a 1990 agreement between Chrysler Motors Corp. and Unix System Laboratories.
The second letter, written by DaimlerChrysler Senior Vice President and CIO Susan Unger and addressed to Broderick, says that SCO has no right to seek such a certification but adds that the first letter "should cause SCO to dismiss its suit."
Novell Inc. acquired Unix System Laboratories and rights to the Unix operating system from AT&T Corp. in 1993. Some of these rights were eventually transferred to SCO, although Novell now claims that it retained copyright to the Unix System V code that SCO also claims to own.
DaimlerChrysler appears to believe that SCO has no rights to its Unix contract as well. "We were rather puzzled when we saw the lawsuit, because we never had any agreement with SCO and never had any knowledge that SCO had assumed the rights to that agreement," said Gauthier.
The carmaker's filings ask the court to "grant summary disposition in its favor and against SCO, and deny SCO its requested relief."
SCO had been seeking damages for what it called "past violations of the DaimlerChrysler Software Agreement."
The fact that DaimlerChrysler has now produced the requested certification is unlikely to end SCO's lawsuit, said Bruce Perens, an open-source advocate who has been following the case.
"I do not expect SCO to willingly drop any lawsuit, nor do I expect them to