Red Hat launched two efforts “to protect Red Hat Linux customers and the worldwide Linux industry” today. The first is a lawsuit filed against The SCO Group, and the second is the establishment of a legal defense fund “to further protect the integrity of Open Source software and the Open Source community.” Additionally, Red Hat noted that it has pledged one million dollars to the legal defense fund.

Red Hat said its legal complaint against SCO is intended to demonstrate that Red Hat's technologies do not infringe any intellectual property of SCO and to hold SCO accountable for its unfair and deceptive actions.

“We filed this complaint to stop SCO from making unsubstantiated and untrue public statements attacking Red Hat Linux and the integrity of the Open Source software development process,” said Mark Webbink, General Counsel at Red Hat. “Red Hat is confident that its current and future customers will continue to realize the significant value that our Red Hat Linux platform provides without interruption,” Webbink added.

The “Open Source Now Fund” will be used to cover legal expenses associated with infringement claims brought against companies developing software under the GPL license and non-profit organizations supporting the efforts of companies developing software under a GPL license. Further information is available by email.

“The collaborative process of Open Source software development which created the Linux operating system has been unjustly questioned and threatened,” said Matthew Szulik, Chairman and CEO of Red Hat. “In its role as industry leader, Red Hat has a responsibility to ensure the legal rights of users are protected.”

Further perspective

This CNET article provides further perspective on the Red Hat legal challenge launched today against SCO.

Last week the Open Source Development Lab (OSDL) released a whitepaper, authored by one of the world's leading legal experts on copyright law as applied to software, Professor Eben Moglen of Columbia University, which provides a legal perspective on SCO's anti-Linux attacks and its questionable basis.

Be sure to read LinuxDevices.com's “Special Report” on the entire SCO vs. Linux situation, which includes a range of news coverage, whitepapers, editorials, and more.

 
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