Jury deliberating SCO case against Novell

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Jury deliberations have started in a case pitting two software companies that each claim ownership of the Unix computer operating systems used by large corporations.

Lindon-based The SCO Group filed a slander-of-title lawsuit in 2004 asserting Waltham, Mass.-based Novell Inc. hurt its business and reputation. SCO Group claimed Novell sold its copyrights when it allowed SCO to take over the business of servicing Unix technology in 1995. Novell says it sold the servicing rights, not the copyrights.

SCO Group is seeking damages of up to $215 million.

A victory for SCO Group would allow it to revive another lawsuit alleging IBM Corp. dumped proprietary Unix code into the open-source Linux operating system.

IBM has denied any wrongdoing. The jury that started deliberating Friday in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City was expected to take several days to reach a verdict.