SCO and Novell to get day in court

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The judge presiding over SCO's slander and breach of contract lawsuit against Novell has finally set a date for the trial proper to begin.

According to memorandum decision and order issued by Judge Dale Kimball of the US District Court for the District of Utah, the long-running dispute will finally be heard in court on 17 September, providing preliminary deadlines are met on outstanding pre-trial disclosures and other issues.

The ongoing issues both parties were discussing before the date was set included whether a jury was necessary, as well as what the milestone ruling Kimball issued earlier this month means in its detail.

Up until Judge Kimball ruled Novell did own the rights to Unix and the Unixware brand ten days ago, it was thought the trial would last up to three weeks. Now, it is expected to last a "substantially shorter" period of time, according to his memo.

The ruling and the subsequent date set for trial are likely to have SCO's legal team working overtime to avoid leaving the vendor open to counterclaims from Novell, which could force SCO into bankruptcy if they are upheld.

The case began in 2003 when SCO filed suit against IBM for Unix copyright infringement in using the code in its contributions to Linux. It then sued Novell a year later, saying Novell had falsely claimed rights to Unix.

Neither company had made any comment on the trial date or preliminary deadline schedule at time of writing.

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