SCO Insolvent

Sep 17, 2007

SCO filed for protection under Chapter 11 of US bankruptcy laws on Friday.

The company, known for its lengthy lawsuits concerning Unix rights, lost a decisive battle mid August when a US court ruled that Novell was the owner of the Unix code. At the same time, the court ruled that Novell was entitled to licensing fees based on its ownership.

Hit by litigation costs, SCO was threatened with NASDAQ delisting in late April; now the Supervisory Board has filed for protection with the court in Delaware. While under court supervision, SCO will have an opportunity to restructure. No debts will be collected in this period, while the court decides whether the company is capable of running economically. The main case in the Novell lawsuit is due to be heard September 17, however, under Chapter 11 the lawsuit will automatically be postponed.

Legal commentators on Groklaw have compiled a list of documents that SCO will be forced to publish under Chapter 11, including the Supervisor Board decision from September 13, and a list of outstanding debts. According to Groklaw SCO has total debts of US$ 7.5 m, but the company is worth US$ 14.8 m in total. The list of creditors does not include Novell's claim for outstanding license payments totaling at least US$ 25 m. SCO's lawyers state that the second largest item is legal fees totaling US$ 287 000, with investment company Amici topping the list at half a million US$. Novell asked the court for a quick decision back in January, stating that its opponent, SCO, would be running out of money soon and would thus be unable to fulfill its obligations.

Related content

  • Court decides: Unix belongs to Novell, not to SCO

    In the court case concerning Unix rights, it looks very much as if SCO has just lost the decisive round: in the considered opinion of Utah District Court, Novell is the owner of the code. The court refutes SCO's claims of ownership.

    more »
  • SCO Rises from the Swamp

    Longtime litigator revives an ancient suit against IBM alleging Linux infringes on Unix copyrights. 

    more »
  • Novell Claiming Payment from SCO

    In the current bankruptcy proceedings, Novell has filed a claim against SCO for payment of outstanding license fees and is seeking to have the proceedings moved to Utah.

    more »
  • Patent Suit Filed Against Novell and Red Hat

    Just a couple of days after the latest verbal attacks by Microsoft CEO Ballmer, Linux distributor Red Hat really does find itself at the receiving end of a patent lawsuit, however, this attack also targets Microsoft partner Novell.

    more »
  • It's Final: SCO Loses, Novell Wins

    After five years of litigation between SCO and Novell, the final judgment from the U.S. District Court in Utah is that the rights to Unix belong to Novell. SCO, which is already financially stressed, owes Novell around 2.5 million dollars.

    more »
comments powered by Disqus
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters

Support Our Work

Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.

Learn More

News

Tag Cloud

Administration Community Events Hardware Linux Linux Pro Magazine Mobile Programming Security Software Ubuntu Web Development Windows free software open source