# LANGUAGE translation of https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/sco/sco-without-fear.html # Copyright (C) YEAR Free Software Foundation, Inc. # This file is distributed under the same license as the original article. # FIRST AUTHOR , YEAR. # #, fuzzy msgid "" msgstr "" "Project-Id-Version: sco-without-fear.html\n" "POT-Creation-Date: 2021-10-03 08:55+0000\n" "PO-Revision-Date: YEAR-MO-DA HO:MI+ZONE\n" "Last-Translator: FULL NAME \n" "Language-Team: LANGUAGE \n" "Language: \n" "MIME-Version: 1.0\n" "Content-Type: text/plain; charset=CHARSET\n" "Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit\n" #. type: Content of: msgid "" "SCO: Without Fear and Without Research - GNU Project - Free Software " "Foundation" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h2> msgid "SCO: Without Fear and Without Research" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><address> msgid "by Eben Moglen <a href=\"#moglen\"><sup>[*]</sup></a>" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "<i>Monday 24 November 2003</i>" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "There's a traditional definition of a shyster: a lawyer who, when the law is " "against him, pounds on the facts; when the facts are against him, pounds on " "the law; and when both the facts and the law are against him, pounds on the " "table. The SCO Group's continuing attempts to increase its market value at " "the expense of free software developers, distributors and users through " "outlandish legal theories and unsubstantiated factual claims show that the " "old saying hasn't lost its relevance." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h3> msgid "Just The Facts" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "SCO continues to claim in public statements about its lawsuit against IBM " "that it can show infringement of its copyrights in Unix Sys V source code by " "the free software operating system kernel called Linux. But on the one " "occasion when SCO has publicly shown what it claimed were examples of code " "from Linux taken from Unix Sys V, its demonstration backfired, showing " "instead SCO's cavalier attitude toward copyright law and its even greater " "sloppiness at factual research." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "On August 18, 2003, SCO's CEO, Darl McBride, offered a slide presentation of " "supposed examples of infringing literal copying from Sys V to Linux at a " "public speech in Las Vegas. Within hours the free software and open source " "communities had analyzed SCO's supposed best evidence, and the results were " "not encouraging for those investors and others who hope SCO knows what it is " "talking about.<a href=\"#foot17\">[1]</a>" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "In Las Vegas Mr. McBride offered two examples of code from the Linux " "program that were supposedly copied from Sys V. The first implements the " "“Berkeley Packet Filter” (BPF) firewall. Indeed, the Linux " "kernel program contains a BPF implementation, but it is the original work of " "Linux developer Jay Schulist. Nor did SCO ever hold an ownership interest " "in the original BPF implementation, which as the very name shows was " "originally part of BSD Unix, and which was copied, perfectly legally, into " "SCO's Sys V Unix from BSD. Because the BPF implementations in Sys V and " "Linux have a common intellectual ancestor and perform the same function, " "SCO's “pattern-matching” search of the two code bases turned up " "an apparent example of copying. But SCO didn't do enough research to " "realize that the work they were claiming was infringed wasn't their own " "(probably because they had “carelessly” removed the original " "copyright notice)." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Mr. McBride's second example was only slightly less unconvincing. Mr " "McBride showed several dozen lines of memory allocation code from " "“Linux,” which was identical to code from Sys V. Once again, " "however, it turned out that SCO had relied on “pattern-matching” " "in the source code without ascertaining the actual history and copyright " "status of the work as to which it claimed ownership and infringement. The C " "code shown in the slides was first incorporated in Unix Version 3, and was " "written in 1973; it descends from an earlier version published by Donald " "Knuth in his classic <cite>The Art of Computer Programming</cite> in 1968. " "AT&T claimed this code, among other portions of its Unix OS, as " "infringed by the University of California in the BSD litigation, and was " "denied a preliminary injunction on the ground that it could not show a " "likelihood of success on its copyright claim, because it had published the " "code without copyright notices and therefore, under pre-1976 US copyright " "law, had put the code in the public domain. In 2002, SCO's predecessor " "Caldera released this code again under a license that permitted free copying " "and redistribution. Silicon Graphics, Inc. (SGI) then used the code in the " "variant of the Linux program for “Trillium” 64-bit architecture " "computers it was planning to sell but never shipped. In incorporating the " "code, SGI violated the terms of Caldera's license by erroneously removing " "Caldera's (incorrect) copyright notice." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Thus SCO's second example was of supposedly impermissible copying of code " "that was in the public domain to begin with, and which SCO itself had " "released under a free software license after erroneously claiming " "copyright. SGI had complicated matters by improperly removing the " "inaccurate copyright notice. So how many PCs and Intel-architecture servers " "around the world contained this supposedly infringing code? Zero. <em>No " "version of the Linux program for Intel architectures had ever contained " "it.</em> No SGI hardware for which this code was written ever shipped. HP, " "which sells 64-bit Itanium servers, has removed the code from the IA-64 " "branch of the Linux code tree; it was technically redundant anyway. But " "SCO's research went no farther than discovering a supposed instance of " "“copying,” without asking whether SCO had any rights in what had " "been copied, and certainly without providing the audience to whom it was " "speaking any indication that the “Linux” it was talking about " "was a variant for rare computers from which the supposedly-offending code " "had already been removed." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "What the Las Vegas “examples” actually demonstrated was that " "SCO's factual claims were irresponsibly inflated when they weren't being " "kept artfully “secret.” With the facts running against them even " "when the facts were of their own choosing, it was unsurprising that after " "August SCO turned to the law. But the law was not on their side either." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h3> msgid "Making Up the Law" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "SCO's legal situation contains an inherent contradiction. SCO claims, in " "the letters it has sent to large corporate users of free software and in " "public statements demanding that that users of recent versions of the kernel " "take licenses, that the Linux program contains material over which SCO holds " "copyright. It also has brought trade secret claims against IBM, alleging " "that IBM contributed material covered by non-disclosure licenses or " "agreements to the Linux kernel. But it has distributed and continues to " "distribute Linux under GPL. It has therefore published its supposed trade " "secrets and copyrighted material, under a license that gives everyone " "permission to copy, modify, and redistribute. If the GPL means what it " "says, SCO loses its trade secret lawsuit against IBM, and cannot carry out " "its threats against users of the Linux kernel." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "But if the GPL is not a valid and effective copyright permission, by what " "right is SCO distributing the copyrighted works of Linux's contributors, and " "the authors of all the other copyrighted software it currently purports to " "distribute under GPL? IBM's counterclaim against SCO raises that question " "with respect to IBM's contributions to the Linux kernel. Under GPL section " "6, no redistributor of GPL'd code can add any terms to the license; SCO has " "demanded that parties using the Linux kernel buy an additional license from " "it, and conform to additional terms. Under GPL section 4, anyone who " "violates GPL automatically loses the right to distribute the work as to " "which it is violating. IBM therefore rightly claims that SCO has no " "permission to distribute the kernel, and is infringing not only its " "copyrights, but those of all kernel contributors. Unless SCO can show that " "the GPL is a valid form of permission, and that it has never violated that " "permission's terms, it loses the counterclaim, and should be answerable in " "damages not only to IBM but to all kernel contributors." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "IBM's counterclaim painted SCO into a corner on the subject of the GPL. Not " "only the facts but also the law are now fundamentally against SCO's " "increasingly desperate position. SCO and its predecessor, Caldera, have " "benefited enormously from the protections of the GPL. Thanks to the GPL, " "SCO has been able, for example, to use the invaluable work of compiler " "designers and implementers around the world who have made GCC the premier " "cross-platform C compiler. Customer applications run on SCO's Sys V Unix " "because of GCC, to which SCO contributed modifications particular to its " "system, and for which it assigned copyright to the Free Software " "Foundation. Caldera and SCO could not have marketed a usable operating " "system product without the contributions of the free software community. " "SCO was happy to take the benefits, but it has unethically sought to avoid " "its responsibilities. The law does not permit SCO to have it both ways." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "So now it has become time for SCO and its lawyers to pound the table. SCO's " "response to IBM's counterclaim has been a round of absurd attacks on the " "GPL, its users, and its publisher, the Free Software Foundation. The GPL, " "SCO's answer to IBM's counterclaim alleges, violates not just federal " "statutes but also the United States Constitution. How a private copyright " "holder can violate the US Constitution by giving others permission to copy, " "modify and redistribute its work SCO does not deign to say. Legal theories " "aren't secrets; if SCO's lawyers had anything to offer in support of this " "novel proposition, they would offer it. Not one case decided in the long " "history of US copyright affords support to this ridiculous conception of an " "unconstitutional copyright license. No lawyer of my reasonably broad " "acquaintance, no matter what his or her view of the GPL may be, takes this " "moonshine seriously. After failing on the facts, failing on the law, and " "raising no more than derisive laughter from pounding the table, even the " "proverbial shyster is out of luck. What will we see next from SCO, an " "attack on the umpire?" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h3> msgid "Footnote" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ol><li> msgid "" "The most complete review of the SCO Las Vegas presentation was written by " "Bruce Perens, and is <a " "href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20030828144050/perens.com/Articles/SCO/SCOSlideShow.html\">archived</a>." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><div><p> msgid "" "[*] Eben Moglen is General Counsel to FSF, and serves on its board of " "directors." msgstr "" #. TRANSLATORS: Use space (SPC) as msgstr if you don't have notes. #. type: Content of: <div> msgid "*GNUN-SLOT: TRANSLATOR'S NOTES*" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><div><p> msgid "" "Please send general FSF & GNU inquiries to <a " "href=\"mailto:gnu@gnu.org\"><gnu@gnu.org></a>. There are also <a " "href=\"/contact/\">other ways to contact</a> the FSF. Broken links and " "other corrections or suggestions can be sent to <a " "href=\"mailto:webmasters@gnu.org\"><webmasters@gnu.org></a>." msgstr "" #. TRANSLATORS: Ignore the original text in this paragraph, #. replace it with the translation of these two: # #. We work hard and do our best to provide accurate, good quality #. translations. However, we are not exempt from imperfection. #. Please send your comments and general suggestions in this regard #. to <a href="mailto:web-translators@gnu.org"> # #. <web-translators@gnu.org></a>.</p> # #. <p>For information on coordinating and contributing translations of #. our web pages, see <a #. href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations #. README</a>. #. type: Content of: <div><div><p> msgid "" "Please see the <a " "href=\"/server/standards/README.translations.html\">Translations README</a> " "for information on coordinating and contributing translations of this " "article." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "Copyright © 2003 Eben Moglen" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Verbatim copying of this article is permitted in any medium, provided this " "notice is preserved." msgstr "" #. TRANSLATORS: Use space (SPC) as msgstr if you don't want credits. #. type: Content of: <div><div> msgid "*GNUN-SLOT: TRANSLATOR'S CREDITS*" msgstr "" #. timestamp start #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "Updated:" msgstr ""