SCO loses appeal against Novell

BANKRUPT SCO has lost its second appeal of its slander of title lawsuit against Novell. The US 10th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the lower court decision in all respects.

The SCO Group had claimed that it owned the copyrights to Unix SVRX under a licensing agreement, instead of Novell, because it wanted to shake down corporate Linux users.

Groklaw, which has followed the SCO saga from the outset, has a report of the appellate court ruling.

"SCO has fallen downstairs, hitting its head on every step, to the very bottom," wrote Pamela Jones at Groklaw, adding, "Today's ruling [was] worth waiting for."

Novell issued a brief statement saying it "is pleased that the jury verdict and Court ruling have been upheld."

SCO can petition for the entire federal appeals court to consider its appeal again, sitting 'en banc', and it can appeal the decision to the US Supreme Court, but neither of those further appeals seems likely to be granted or succeed. µ