[CLUE-Talk] More on SCO/Copyrights

[Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier]

I'm doing a little research on copyright law, just to see what kind of
case SCO would have against end-users if they manage to convince a court
that they have IP in the Linux kernel.

<obligatory>IANAL</obligatory> but, it seems they would have zero case
against any company using, but not distributing, Linux. 

>From "Law for Business" -- "A person will not succeed in a copyright
infringement lawsuit unless she proves two things. First, she must
establish ownership of valid copyright. Second, she must show that the
defendant copied constituent elements of her protected works. If these
two steps are met, the copyright owner will succeed in her infringement
suit if she proves that the defendant exercised any of the ownership
rights in the previous paragraph." 

The rights are:

1. Reproduce copyrighted work.
2. Prepare adaptations based on the original copyrighted work. 
3. Sell or transfer copies of the copyrighted material.
4. Publically display the copyrighted material.

Now, unless the courts choose to interpret downloading as reproduction,
I don't see where SCO would have a case against companies who are only
using Linux -- not selling or distributing it. Therefore, their threats
to sue companies using Linux can pretty safely be viewed as extortion,
since their lawyers should damn well know that copyright law does not
provide for suing recipients of copyrighted material -- only
distributors. 

Zonker
-- 
Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier
jzb at dissociatedpress.net
Aim: zonkerjoe
http://www.dissociatedpress.net