SCO motion on IBM info is denied

A federal magistrate on Friday ruled that SCO Group Inc. took "out of context" earlier court orders about how much information International Business Machines Corp. must provide as the two companies haggle about IBM's contributions to the Linux computer operating system.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Brooke Wells denied a motion from Lindon-based SCO to compel IBM to provide more information about the matter, saying IBM had never agreed to produce information related to its Linux contributions and that IBM had followed the court orders correctly.

SCO, meanwhile, took out of context the orders she said she believed were clearly written.

SCO has filed a multibillion-dollar lawsuit claiming IBM violated its license with SCO by placing parts of SCO's Unix operating system source code into the code for Linux, a freely distributed system that is developed and enhanced by contributors worldwide. IBM and other companies make computers that use Linux. The IBM/SCO contract allowed IBM to use Unix internally but prohibited Unix from being transferred outside IBM.

The high-profile case is being closely watched by the tech community because of its possible ramifications to IBM, SCO and Linux, as well as other companies, including Microsoft Corp., whose products compete with Linux.

SCO attorney Stuart Singer said Friday that IBM had not complied with agreements and court orders that he said called for IBM to produce all Linux-related contributions, including all documents and materials from people involved in IBM's Linux-related development efforts. That included nonpublic information and "the very documents used every day" by "people at the heart of the project," he said.

But IBM attorney David Marriott contended that IBM complied with the court orders as it understood them, even going "above and beyond" requirements in certain instances. He called SCO's motion "nothing short of astounding."

And, he said, IBM never agreed to provide all IBM documents related to Linux, IBM's contributions to Linux or IBM's Linux development, nor did court orders intend for that to happen. IBM has "persistently declined to turn the company upside down" to produce the documents SCO seeks, Marriott said, likening the scope of such a request to one seeking IBM documents "about computers."

IBM already has produced "millions of pages of paper," including 700,000 related to its Linux contributions from 216 "custodians," he said.

And, he added, IBM's Linux contributions are public. Only contributions rejected by Linux creator Linus Torvalds would not be public.

But Singer contended that more than simply the "contributions" were relevant. "There is no question IBM did not just out of thin air" produce Linux contributions, he said in trying to get the nonpublic documents and other printed materials from IBM.

Marriott said IBM would make available to SCO the Linux information from the files of any 20 IBM developers SCO wants to depose.

On another matter Friday, Wells declined SCO's request to boost by 25 the number of people each side may depose. The sides had agreed to 40 each. Wells ruled they could add 10 more per side and denied IBM's request to increase the amount of time it may depose each SCO witness.

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