LynuxWorks issued a statement today regarding SCO's claim that Linux contains code that infringes on its UNIX intellectual property rights.

“The industry is still waiting to see proof of SCO's claims,” noted LynuxWorks CEO Dr. Inder Singh. “However, this debate is creating some unfortunate and unnecessary 'FUD' (fear, uncertainty, doubt) among Linux users.”

“I predict that by the time SCO's claims are put to the legal test Linux programmers around the world will have already generated new open source code to 'patch' or bypass the portion currently in question — and in effect, the debate will become a moot point,” Singh said. “But regardless of the legal outcomes, Linux will continue to progress unimpeded as a robust, royalty free software solution.”

Along with the comments by Singh, LynuxWorks also asserted that its own customers are safe, “regardless of SCO lawsuit outcome,” because LynuxWorks is “the only company to offer customers a complete family of Linux ABI (application binary interface) compatible embedded operating systems . . .”

Specifically, in addition to its open source, royalty-free BlueCat embedded and real-time Linux distributions, LynuxWorks also sells a proprietary RTOS (LynxOS) which it claims is “ABI-compatible” with Linux but not based on Linux source code. According to LynuxWorks, applications can relatively easily be switched between Linux and LynuxWorks with little modification.

Additionally, LynuxWorks said its LynxOS RTOS source code was written in a “clean-room” environment, and that it has already been “certified as such by AT&T (the former owner of UNIX), which stated that LynuxWorks can claim full ownership, patents, and copyrights for the LynxOS code.” LynuxWorks also commented that, “having previously completed this certification for LynxOS, LynuxWorks can apply the same process to its BlueCat code, if necessary.”

 
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