SCO sues first Linux user

The SCO Group has filed its first lawsuit against a Linux user, US car parts retailer AutoZone.

The lawsuit alleges that "AutoZone violated SCO's Unix copyrights by running versions of the Linux operating system that contain code, structure, sequence and/or organisation from SCO's proprietary Unix System V code in violation of SCO's copyrights," said SCO in a statement.

Filed in the US District Court in Nevada, the suit "requests injunctive relief against AutoZone's further use or copying of any part of SCO's copyrighted materials".

It also requests damages as a result of AutoZone's infringement in an amount to be proven at trial.

Ironically, according to web hosting market watcher Netcraft, Autozone runs much of its web infrastructure on Sun Solaris, with just one of its 10 web-visible servers using Linux.

Of AutoZone's web-visible servers the only machine running Linux, Netcraft said, is the front end of an intranet connecting its retail stores that includes more than 3,000 Linux machines.

SCO has also announced a first-quarter 2004 net loss of $2.25m on revenue of $11.3m, compared to a loss of $724,000 in the same period last year.

Chief executive Darl McBride said the revenue and results of operations for the first quarter were consistent with the company's expectations.

"In coming quarters we will continue to expand our SCOsource initiatives, with an ongoing campaign to defend and protect SCO's intellectual property assets which will include continued end-user lawsuits and negotiations regarding intellectual property licenses," he added in a statement.