Could Novell Sue Apple?

LinuxNoob75 · 11-07-2007, 03:27 PM

Since Novell now owns the Unix copyrights, could they sue Apple for using Unix at the base of OSX?

Or even worse, if Novell sold out to Microsoft, could Microsoft sue Apple?

I don't think Novell would sue or sell out, but is there any legal case there?

reddazz · 11-07-2007, 03:37 PM

I don't think Apple uses Unix code from SCO. Its unix base is supposed to be originally from BSD. As for Microsoft suing Apple with regards to Unix, I don't think thats going to happen as well. Firstly Novell did not sell any Unix rights to Microsoft and both Microsoft and Apple copy a lot of stuff from each other, so suing is probably not a good idea for either of those companies.

Sunny Rabbiera · 11-07-2007, 03:47 PM

my worries is that Novell will actually turn against us and become the new SCO, heck there is a lot of signs they are heading that way as we speak.

LinuxNoob75 · 11-07-2007, 03:51 PM

Quote:

Firstly Novell did not sell any Unix rights to Microsoft

I said that it could happen if Novell sold out to Microsoft.

SCO was going to go and sue BSD I believe, but never got around to it.

reddazz · 11-07-2007, 04:08 PM

Quote:

SCO was going to go and sue BSD I believe, but never got around to it.

The code that SCO "owned" was System V Unix which is quite different from BSD. AT&T (the original owners of System V Unix) sued developers of BSD long before SCO bought those rights. The BSD developers had to prove that there wasn't any AT&T code in BSD (the BSD devs ended up having to remove a few files) and the issue was resolved. This makes it highly unlikely that SCO would have grounds to sue BSD. Since Apples Unix base is BSD, its unlikely that Novell or whoever owns the System V Unix can sue them.

sundialsvcs · 11-07-2007, 09:46 PM

I'm sure that the lawyers who made so much money bleeding SCO dry until literally nothing of it remained, would love to do it again, but it ain't gonna happen.

If this miserable case proved anything, it's that lawsuits are no substitute for innovation.

Dox Systems - Brian · 11-08-2007, 10:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sunny Rabbiera

my worries is that Novell will actually turn against us and become the new SCO, heck there is a lot of signs they are heading that way as we speak.

It does appear that they're well on the way down that slippery slope...