Novell Poised To Strike On Slander Of Title Claim

Xenographic writes "As seen in this Groklaw article, Novell is moving to dismiss SCO's slander of title claim with prejudice. They key to it is that SCO needs Novell's claims to be "knowingly false" to establish malice. Since the judge's own order on the motion to remand (see also part 2) questions whether there really was ever actually a copyright transfer, Novell's assertion that there was no transfer cannot be knowingly false, so SCO's case falls apart. Unfortunately, as Novell points out, the judge would be doing this without actually deciding the underlying issue of who owns what copyrights, and SCO could file a completely different suit for breach of contract or something, even though SCO would be unable to refile this slander of title suit. As an aside, I should mention that this isn't the first or only controversy over defamation we've seen in this fiasco by any means."

The best solution...

[Short Circuit]

...would be for the copyright claim to be determined. I'd hate to see SCO go out of business before it was determined who owns the IP it claims.

Re:Free Software and the Idiots who Buy It

[Mr. No Skills]

"I watched the tapes of the Nuremburg experiments that showcased how people put in positions of authority could be ordered to torture and kill other people and that the majority of those tested in the study failed the "humanity" test."

What's the name of that law about when the argument gets to comparing the opponent with Nazi's?

Could Enderle be setting himself up?

[listen]

I've got a really good conspiracy theory.

Lets take it as given that the entire purpose of the SCO lawsuits is to discredit Linux/Free Software and spread FUD, bankrolled by ...erm... someone.

Enderle has constantly harped on about "these zealots", "death threats", "die for what you believe in" etc, etc.

Enderle is setting himself up to either:

1. Get killed by goons hired by... someone
2. Kill himself ( some people really are zealots)
3. Most likely, fake his own death in order to discredit Linux "zealots"

He'll be found in a Reno hotel room with the full text of the GPL version 2 (or later at your discretion) inscribed on his chest using a slide rule. A single penguin feather will be protruding from between his mutilated butt cheeks, and the smell of herring will linger.

Who would use software that causes people to kill in such a biblical fashion? Thats how it is going to play - Just wait until the mainstream media condenses down John Katz' old columbine mooning into a blanket condemnation of all geekhood.

I think it could happen just when ... someone feels that they are getting almost no return from the SCO lawsuit in terms of FUD, and they need a real boost. Its desparate, but the potential pay off is huge - better than patents!

Do I really beleive this? No. But its worth putting it out there, just so if it did happen we can all pat each other on the back in Gitmo, and say "Knew it was coming! Why didn't we listen [slashdot.org]?

Re:Free Software and the Idiots who Buy It

[iapetus]

Also Cole's law:

Freshly sliced cabbage

Or does that not apply here?

The Big Enderle

[ferguss]

I didn't see my buddies die face down in the mud to watch a bunch of Linux Zealots going after poor little SCO.