Blake Stowell on NDAs and the GPL

We discussed the SCO-Caldera plan to show the allegedly tainted Linux code to a select panel under a NDA with SCO-Caldera Director of Corporate Communications Blake Stowell via e-mail from 16 May 2003 to 20 May 2003.

Incidentally, watch out for people switching terms such as infringement and misappropriation. The remedy for infringement would lie in a suit under the copyright or patent laws. The remedy for misappropriation would lie under breach of contract law.

MozillaQuest Magazine: Y'all have been making statements recently to the effect that you will show SCO-owned code in the kernel.org Linux kernel and the GNU/Linux OS to people that y'all select and that you will do it under a Non Disclosure Agreement (NDA), is that correct?

Blake Stowell: We have stated that we will be willing to show SCO's Unix System V Code compared to Linux both in some distributions (including Red Hat) and in the Linux kernel. We will do this under strict non-disclosure with interested parties at our corporate headquarters.

MozillaQuest Magazine: Why do you require this be done under an NDA?

Blake Stowell: This evidence is important to our current litigation under way and to prove to Linux users and distributors that our code is being misappropriated into Linux.

MozillaQuest Magazine: Why all the secrecy?

Blake Stowell: Some of this code is being used by other UNIX licensees and we have confidentiality agreements with many of them to not disclose the UNIX source code publicly.

MozillaQuest Magazine: The Linux kernel and GNU/Linux source code is all open-source code. So whatever SCO-owned Unix code might be in the Linux kernel or GNU/Linux source code is already available for public viewing. Why do you insist in keeping something that is public a secret?

Blake Stowell: UNIX source code is not public. It is not open sourced and the license under which we operate is very different from the Open Source license.

Note: Could this statement, "the license under which we operate", mean that SCO-Caldera itself is operating under a Unix license from Novell and that Novell never conveyed ownership of the Unix copyrights and patents to SCO?

MozillaQuest Magazine: In statements ya'll are making you insist that if you revealed what lines of code in the Linux kernel and GNU/Linux source code are SCO-owned code as you claim, that the Linux kernel and GNU/Linux source code developers could remove the alleged SCO-owned code in order to prevent IP enforcement actions against the Linux kernel and GNU/Linux source code. Isn't that just plain stupid SCO smoke?

Blake Stowell: We will not show the evidence now that could later prove that Linux misappropriates SCO UNIX source code.

MozillaQuest Magazine: There are thousands, if not millions, of copies of Linux distributions all over the place. If as you say there was or is SCO-owned code in the Linux kernel and GNU/Linux source code how in the heck are the Linux kernel and GNU/Linux source code developers going to run around and hide all that evidence?

Blake Stowell: We will present the evidence at the appropriate place and time.

MozillaQuest Magazine: What's more, if SCO-Caldera's interest really is in protecting its intellectual property (IP) why would you not want to show the Linux kernel and GNU/Linux source code developers what code you allege is SCO-owned code so that they can remove that code from the Linux kernel and GNU/Linux source code?

Blake Stowell: We will present the evidence at the appropriate place and time.

MozillaQuest Magazine: . . . Nor has SCO-Caldera identified any SCO-owned Unix code in the kernel.org kernel, the GNU/Linux operating system, or any Linux distributions. SCO-Caldera has been claiming there is such tainted code -- but it has not publicly identified any such code.

Blake Stowell: We will begin showing the misappropriated code under non-disclosure in June.

MozillaQuest Magazine: Recently, SCO-Caldera spokespeople have been making claims that there is SCO-owned code in the kernel.org Linux kernel and the GNU/Linux operating system.

Blake Stowell: The only thing we have stated is that we have found our SCO owned code in various Linux distributions (including Red Hat), and in the Linux kernel. We have not reviewed the code found on kernel.org or the GNU/Linux operating system.

Please see the first two parts of our series about SCO-Caldera's IP claims plus its intentions to enforce and license its intellectual property rights.

SCO-Caldera & the GNU/Linux Community: The SCOsource IP Matter

SCO-Caldera & the GNU/Linux Community: Part 2, Under the Iceberg's Tip