SCO Moves To Terminate IBM's Unix LicenseSCO Moves To Terminate IBM's Unix License

The SCO Group made it official on Monday: It terminated IBM's right to use or distribute any software that's based on Unix System V. SCO Group said in a statement that it's exercising the right of termination granted under the original 1985 Unix Software and Sublicensing Agreements between IBM and AT&T, the original owner of Unix.

"The Software and Sublicensing Agreements and related agreements that SCO has with IBM includes clear provisions that deal with the protection of source code, derivative works and methods," Mark Heise, of law firm Boies Schiller & Flexner LLP, said in an SCO Group news release.

SCO Group had threatened to revoke IBM's AIX license on Friday, 100 days after formally filing a $1 billion lawsuit against the technology giant. SCO Group alleges that IBM violated its Unix licensing by supposedly feeding Unix source code to the Linux community.

Although SCO Group hasn't proven in court that IBM contributed AIX source code to Linux, Heise went on to accuse IBM of "using Unix methods to accelerate and improve Linux as a free operating system, with the resulting destruction of Unix. Today AIX is an unauthorized derivative of the Unix System V operating system source code and its users are, as of this date, using AIX without a valid basis to do so."

IBM's response has been consistent since the suite was first filed. A company spokeswoman said Monday that IBM has an "irrevocable, perpetual license for AIX that cannot be terminated."

SCO Group also filed an amendment to its complaint against IBM for a permanent injunction requiring IBM to cease and desist all use and distribution of AIX and to destroy or return all copies of Unix System V source code. In the amended complaint, SCO is seeking additional damages from IBM's multibillion-dollar AIX-related businesses that began accruing Friday, June 13, at midnight.

"It's more a question of legal process than technology at this point," says IDC research director Al Gillen. Although IBM has done little to respond publicly to SCO Group's accusations and lawsuit, SCO continues to press the issue. "You can assume that IBM's AIX customers have some level of concern," Gillen says--but it's unlikely that they would be affected unless IBM was unsuccessful in defending itself.