Novell looks to indemnification
Vendor to protect its SuSE Linux Enterprise Server customers against intellectual property challenges
Novell has launched an indemnification scheme to protect its SuSE Linux Enterprise Server customers against "certain intellectual property challenges to Linux".
Novell said the move was backed by its "legal rights", including its claim that it, not SCO, owns the Unix copyrights.
But Peter Dawes-Huish, sales director at Novell partner LinuxIT, said: "This is a cynical ploy. If SCO wins, Novell is bankrupt and nobody gets paid."
The move comes as SCO extends its licence plans for Linux worldwide and warned that it will sue for breaches of copyright. The licence will be available directly and through resellers.
Chris Sontag, SCO's general manager at its SCOsource division, said the scheme was a safer route to take than indemnification schemes.