504 Very Bad News for Darl and Ralph << Prev Next >>
by: ColonelZen	IP: 226.26	rated: 0-0	posted: 2007-10-12 14:25:26
For Darl and Ralph the news is very bad   A patent troll will make Big Blue mad.     Blue Gene will calculate that the world must see   What happens to those who claim Linux IP     In Debtor's Court SCOX is already broken   Their executives hides will make a perfect token.     A pennant of pain to illuminate the the wrath   To those who would choose to cross the Nazgul's path.       To explain without the possibly distracting rhyme, I think it is possible that had not Microsoft orchestrated through a sockpuppet, IP Innovation, LLC (a subsidiary of Acacia Research Group), then it's at least possible that IBM's interest might have petered out with SCO's bankruptcy. Of course I don't know IBM's collective mind, but as I understand a mutual agreement not to sue for various patent claims between IBM and Microsoft has recently expired. IBM might very well have been content simply to extinguish SCO and then drop the matter and focus on going after Microsoft directly.     But with another surrogate stepping up to engage Linux metaphorically minutes after SCO's corporate death, IBM can hardly ignore how the game is being played. "*Disproportionate Response*" is the only strategy that makes sense, otherwise Linux's champions will have to deal and fight one puppet corporation after another. IBM will surely conclude that the best strategy is one which makes it very plain that the return on dancing under Microsoft's strings does not balance the cost.     It is well documented that Darl's public statements make him personally, not just as SCO's CEO, responsible for Lanham violations which are easily demonstrated once Judge Kimball's rulings in SCO vs Novell are finalized. Ralph is a harder reach, being "merely" chairman and not an officer as such, but he too has made public statements which place him "on the line" and it will not be difficult to document that he was responsible for setting policies which, with the total failure of SCO's public representations, represent illegal acts. (I am not a lawyer, these are simply my personal opinions. How well they correspond to the written body of law, we - and of course Darl and Ralph - are very likely to find out.)     So with the bulk of the documentation done - and in many instances on record in the courts re SCO-vs-Novell and SCO-vs-IBM - SCO's exec's are their as easy pickings should IBM choose to take "personal" offense.     The IP Innovation suit makes it very obvious that on the contorted, distorted game board that is American business and IP law, attacking and defending against corporations are not alone sufficient. Corporations are illusory containers of money and people - large corporations can move money and people around lesser corporations at whim to shield the individuals from the consequences of pursuing policies which are detrimental to a corporation filing a lawsuit but beneficial to another entity who is hiding behind the "fictitious person" filing it. The only strategy that will stop this, or at least slow it down, is wherever possible, make sure that the *individual* real people behind such schemes suffer as much of the consequence as can be brought to bear.     Given IBM's investment in Linux and that Darl and Ralph are already dangling in the breeze, they can expect the next decade or so of their lives to be "interesting times" .     I also suspect BSF, and David Boise in particular, are going to find that having themselves crossed the line of the "gentleman's agreement" between litigants and counsel, that they will find that such no longer affords them the protections they expect. We shall see.     -- TWZ     (*Yes I read Pratchett*)