Updated — 12:40PM, PST — The Open Source Development Labs (OSDL) has created a legal defense fund that will likely be used initially to cover its expenses and those of OSDL Fellow Linus Torvalds in response to the SCO subpoena of November, 2003. The fund could also be used to aid end users in certain kinds of cases, should any arise.

The fund will not be used for development cases, other than those involving Torvalds/OSDL and SCO.

The fund may be used for OSDL-approved end user cases involving copyright and/or intellectual property rights issues. So far, no such cases exist. However, any Linux customer sued by SCO for using Linux can request assistance from the fund through an application process currently being finalized.

OSDL says it created the Linux Legal Defense Fund after consulting with its members, participants in its Linux User Advisory Council, and key members of the Linux development community. The fund will be wholly supported by independent contributions — OSDL membership dues will not be used.

To date the Lab has received more than $3 million of the $10 million it aims to raise. Pledges will be accepted from individuals, organizations, and companies. Donations are not tax deductible.

MontaVista, which earlier released a statement about the SCO case, is an early supporter of the fund, along with IBM and Intel.

“The SCO-IBM case is a contract dispute, and there are no actual cases involving copyright or intellection property rights, just threats,” notes MontaVista Director of Strategic Marketing Bill Weinberg. “None of our customers have said they wouldn't use Linux because of the threats. But, some are thinking twice. We want to do all we can to reassure them.”

MontaVista CEO Jim Ready said, “This [is a] preemptive action against possible SCO litigation. We continue to believe that the SCO actions are without merit, and that the risk from SCO is nothing compared to the risk of staying with outmoded legacy RTOS software.”

Stuart Cohen, CEO of OSDL, commented, “Customers deploy Linux solutions in good faith. OSDL is responding to a call for leadership on this issue. This fund sends a clear message that [we] will stand firm against legal threats levied by The SCO Group.”

More information and details about the OSDL Linux legal defense fund and how to contribute can be found on the OSDL Web site.

 
This article was originally published on LinuxDevices.com and has been donated to the open source community by QuinStreet Inc. Please visit LinuxToday.com for up-to-date news and articles about Linux and open source.