SCO attacks OSDL Linux legal fund

The SCO Group has hit back at the decision of the Open Source Development Labs (OSDL) to create a $10m legal fund to protect Linux users from being sued.

SCO, which has come under fire from the open source community for claiming ownership of key elements of the Linux kernel, said OSDL's actions did not change the fact that SCO had intellectual property in Linux.

"Commercial end users of Linux that continue to use SCO's intellectual property without authorisation are in violation of SCO's copyrights," the company said.

"We have been forthright with Linux end users to help them understand the gravity of these intellectual property violations."

The Linux fund has already received more than $3m in pledges from companies including IBM, Intel, MontaVista Software and others.

Darl McBride, SCO's president and chief executive, said: "If vendors feel so confident with the intellectual property foundation under their massive contributions into Linux, then they should put their money where their mouth is and protect end users with true vendor-based indemnification."

SCO has expanded its relationship with David Boies of law firm Boies, Schiller & Flexner to represent the company in end-user lawsuits, which will begin taking place by the middle of February.