Red Hat Stands Pat In SCO Controversy

As SCO Group cranks up the pressure on the Linux community for allegedly misappropriating some of its Unix code, Red Hat Inc. continues to stand by the position that it's done nothing wrong.

In a letter posted on SCO's site, Red Hat chairman and CEO Matthew Szulik indirectly addressed SCO Group's allegations. "Red Hat's software-development community takes valid intellectual property rights seriously," Szulik wrote on May 19. "We respect and take effort to maintain the legal and technical integrity of valid intellectual property, including patents, copyright, and trademark."

Other than that, according to a Red Hat spokeswoman, it's business as usual at Red Hat. "We still do not have a whole lot to say. All of SCO's allegations have been made indirectly," she says. "We feel satisfied that we're doing what we should be doing."

Part of the reason for Red Hat's reticence, she says, has been that SCO Group hasn't publicly released evidence of the intellectual property violations it asserts have taken place. SCO Group CEO Darl McBride said in a teleconference last week that his company would begin revealing its evidence this week to interested parties who would be willing to sign a nondisclosure agreement.

In the meantime, Red Hat's Linux business hasn't been affected by SCO Group's broad-brush claims, says the spokeswoman. "We've gotten a couple of questions, which we've been able to answer."

The drama will likely continue to play out over the next two weeks. SCO Group filed a lawsuit against IBM in March and has warned the company that it could revoke IBM's license for the AIX operating system on June 13 if SCO Group's demands are not met.