SCO abandons Unix sale

SCO has dropped its legal moves to smooth the way towards a "potential" $36-million (£17.6-million) sell off of its disputed Unix assets.

The vendor had filed an emergency motion last month asking the US court overseeing its asset disposal under Chapter 11 bankruptcy law to allow it to sell its Unix business to investment firm York Capital.

But both IBM and Novell, who have been involved in a long running lawsuit brought by SCO that alleges infringement of the Unix copyright, objected to the sale of assets it argued SCO did not own.

In an August copyright lawsuit ruling, Novell was found to be the owner of the UNIX and UNIXWare copyrights, effectively killing off SCO's claims and financial viability, having committed much of its finances to fighting the three-and-a-half-year long lawsuit.

As major creditors of SCO, Novell and IBM tried to block the York Capital sale in the bankruptcy court.

SCO gave no official reason for abandoning the proposed sale by late last week, but reserved the right to re-submit the motion 'without prejudice' at a later time.

Since then, its latest financial filings showed it going deeper into the red after sales of its Unix-based systems have slumped.

Click here to read an exclusive interview with Pamela Jones of Groklaw about the SCO case.

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