Here is the Redacted Memorandum in Support of IBM's Motion for Partial Summary Judgment on Breach of Contract Claims as text. If you wanted to know what has happened in the SCO v. IBM case so far, you couldn't do better than read this document. If you are in a screaming rush, skip the numbered paragraphs, which are the undisputed facts of the case, and begin with the Argument section. Here we also find out what has been going on in some of the depositions. There are more depositions to come, but these suffice for this motion on the contract claims. All the AT&T executives who were in charge of licensing to IBM way back at the start of the contractual relationship and the IBM executives who negotiated the contract have been deposed, and they are unanimous: SCO's theory of contract under which it claims the right to control even IBM's homegrown code is wrong. That isn't what AT&T had in mind, they all testify. IBM's code that they themselves write belongs to them, with no strings attached, as long as no original Unix System V code is in there.
Further, IBM argues, both SCO and Novell have "waived any breach as a matter of law", Novell by explicitly waiving and SCO by its conduct in releasing Linux with IBM's code inside, and they had to know it was in there, because they advertised IBM's code being in their product even after they filed suit against IBM. They can't benefit from using IBM's code in their Linux product and then sue IBM over the same code for having put it in Linux. Besides, the contracts themselves are unambiguous, and they don't pertain to the code allegedly contributed to Linux by IBM. Even if they were unclear, all the testimony and contemporaneous documentary evidence back up IBM's position on what the contract means. The evidence is so lop-sidedly against SCO, IBM says, "no reasonable fact-finder" -- that would be the judge -- "could agree with SCO's interpretation of the agreements". If that weren't enough, SCO's theory, if followed, would result in an unreasonable result. Besides, you can't act like a contract means one thing for 20 years and then suddenly change your interpretation, IBM notes, with cases for reference. That's SCO's entire theory of the case blown clean out of the water. All their chanting about needing more AIX code so they can trace the steps on the ladder and show a geneology between Unix and IBM donations of AIX and Dynix code to Linux fall flat, if AT&T says they never had or wanted any control over AIX or any other derivative or modified code. IBM even has the pleasure of stating that SCO's contract theory violates copyright law principles. And don't miss their encyclopedia illustration near the end. IBM has pulled aside the Wizard of Oz's curtain, and there is nothing there. No wizard. Nothing to fear at all. SCO may have something dynamic to offer against this document, but if not, I think this should be the ball game for the breach of contract claims, and what does that leave?
Exactly.
SCO's flame is flickering out, unless SCO can pull a new rabbit out of its hat and pronto. Newsweek today states that SCO's case seems to be near collapse, narrowed down to just a contract case. And here IBM is deflating that baloon too. Assuming IBM were to prevail on its motion for partial summary judgment for a declaratory judgment on the copyright infringement claims, as well as on this breach of contract claims motion, that would leave SCO with only unfair competition and tortious interference left in their quiver, while IBM would have a baker's dozen or so counterclaims staring SCO straight in the face. And absolutely nothing on SCO's side would have a thing to do with Linux end users whatsoever that I can see. Something else that leaps off the page is paragraph 60: "It is plain from SCO's discovery responses that SCO has no evidence that any of
the source code IBM contributed to Linux is either literally copied from source code in UNIX
System V or is derived from source code in UNIX System V. (See Exs. 6 & 27.) Indeed, SCO
has purported to identify the lines of UNIX System V code that are present in AIX and Dynix,
and none of those lines are among the lines of code SCO claims IBM improperly contributed to
Linux. (See Ex. 6 at Exs. E & F.)" As the next paragraph then adds, Dr. Randall Davis of MIT has presented a declaration stating that it is his expert opinion that the lines of code SCO claims IBM donated to Linux do not contain any portion of UNIX System V and further it isn't even similar to any source code in UNIX System V. Therefore, they themselves are not modifications of or derivative of Unix System V: "SCO's case
rests solely on IBM's alleged misuse of some comparatively small
amount of code (less than 27,000 lines) purportedly contained in AIX
and Dynix for technologies such as Read Copy Update ('RCU'),
Journaling File System ('JFS'), Enterprise Volume Management
System ('EVMS') and asynchronous input/output ('AIO'). SCO's
contract claims fail for this reason alone. Even under a broad
reading of the original language of Section 2.01 of the agreements,
SCO must show that IBM misused code that can be considered a
modification or a derivative work based on UNIX System V code. SCO,
however, fails to offer any evidence that IBM's purported
contributions to Linux (such as RCU, JFS, EVMS and AIO) — extracted
from AIX and Dynix and standing alone — are modifications or
derivative works of any code in UNIX System V. . . . "In addition, Dr.
Randall Davis of MIT analyzed the specific lines of code IBM is
alleged to have improperly contributed to Linux from AIX and Dynix
and concluded that such code does not contain any portion of source
code from UNIX System V and is not substantially similar to any
source code in UNIX System V. (See Davis Decl. ¶ 45.)
Accordingly, Dr. Davis concluded that such lines of IBM code are
neither modifications nor derivative works of UNIX System V, as is
explained in more detail in his declaration. (See Davis Decl.)
Thus, regardless of whether they can be (or were once) found within
AIX or Dynix, IBM's alleged contributions to Linux cannot themselves
be considered modifications or derivative works based on UNIX System
V, and are not subject to any of the provisions of the IBM and
Sequent Software Agreements." Another paragraph of interest is 106: "As IBM 'was particularly interested in clarifying that it owned the code that it
developed, even if it was meshed with UNIX System V', AT&T provided written clarification to
IBM in the Side Letter. (Vuksanovich Decl. ¶ 16.) As Mr. Vuksanovich explains:
"This clarification did not, however, represent a substantive change to
the standard software agreement. We were only trying to make more
clear what we thought our standard software agreement meant in the first
place. AT&T never intended to assert ownership or control over IBM's
modifications or derivative works, except to the extent of the UNIX
System V source code included in such modifications or derivative
works."
This anticipates an attempt by SCO to argue that IBM entered into its contract with the onerous terms SCO would like, then AT&T may have changed its terms for newer licensees, but that IBM wasn't covered by the $ echo newsletter terms unless it signed a new contract with AT&T with the "new" terms spelled out. However, IBM's witnesses all testify the newsletter was a mere clarification, not new terms at all, establishing that IBM was free to use its homegrown code from the very day the contract was signed onward and that SCO's interpretation of the contract is simply wrong. There were several cases attached as Exhibits, which I will put up separately next. I've decided, now that there are so many cases, to create a separate section inside the Legal Links page, "Cases", so you can find them easily. At the hearing that eventually happens to decide this motion, they are very likely to be discussed, so it's good to have them handy all in one convenient place, with links to them as PDF and text and to where on Groklaw they have been discussed. My thanks to Simon Gibb, Nick Barnes, edsouza, and Nordbo for helping me in transcribing and proofing what was a tedious job. The document is thrilling legal work, but the HTML of all the references and cases was painful. If you see any mistakes, and that seems inevitable, please let me know so I can fix it. We need more eyeballs at this point. ************************************
SNELL & WILMER L.L.P.
Alan L.Sullivan (3152)
Todd M. Shaughnessy (6651)
Amy F. Sorenson (8947)
[address, phone, fax]
CRAVATH, SWAINE & MOORE LLP
Evan R. Chesler (admitted pro hac vice)
David R. Marriott (7572)
[address, phone, fax]
Attorneys for Defendant/Counterclaim-Plaintiff
International Business Machines Corporation
-----------------------------
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF UTAH
-----------------------------
THE SCO GROUP, INC.
Plaintiff/Counterclaim-Defendant,
v.
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES
CORPORATION,
Defendant/Counterclaim-Plaintiff.
-----------------------------
DEFENDANT/COUNTERCLAIM
PLAINTIFF IBM'S REDACTED
MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF
MOTION FOR PARTIAL SUMMARY
JUDGMENT ON BREACH OF
CONTRACT CLAIMS
(ORAL ARGUMENT REQUESTED)
Civil No. 2:03CV0294 DAK
Honorable Dale A. Kimball
Magistrate Judge Brooke C. Wells
-------------------------------
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Preliminary Statement.......................................................................1
Statement Of Undisputed Facts.........................................................3
I. The UNIX Operating System....................................................3
II. The Linux Operating System....................................................5
III. IBM's And Sequent's Licenses To UNIX System V.......................6
IV. AT&T's UNIX Assets..................................................................7
V. SCO's Failure Properly To Provide Evidence In Support Of Its Lawsuit......9
VI. SCO's Newfound Contract Theory.............................................13
VII. AT&T's Interpretation Of Its UNIX System V Licenses.................18
A. Testimonial Evidence...............................................................18
1. The Witnesses............................................................................18
2. Testimony Regarding The Software Agreements..................20
B. Contemporaneous Documentary Evidence........................................35
VIII. Novell's Waiver Of Any Purported Breaches Of Contract By IBM
And Sequent..............................................................40
IX. SCO Disclosed The Code It Claims Is At Issue.............................44
Summary Judgment Standard.............................................................46
Argument.......................................................................................47
I. IBM's UNIX SYSTEM V LICENSES DO NOT, AS A MATTER OF
LAW, RESTRICT IBM FROM DISCLOSING ITS OWN
HOMEGROWN CODE.........................................................................47
A. The IBM And Sequent Software Agreements, By Their Plain
And Unambiguous Terms, Do Not Pertain To The Code Allegedly
Contributed By IBM To Linux...........................................................49
B. In Any Event, All Of The Relevant Testimonial And
Documentary Evidence Supports The Conclusion
That The Software Agreements Do Not Pertain To
IBM's Original Code............................................................................56
1. The Testimonial Evidence........................................................57
2. The Documentary Evidence.....................................................63
3. The Extrinsic Evidence Is So One-Sided That No
Reasonable Fact-Finder Could Agree With SCO's
Interpretation Of The Agreements..........................................66
C. SCO's Interpretation Of The Software Agreements Is
Unreasonable.........................................................................................67
II. NOVELL AND SCO HAVE IN ANY EVENT WAIVED ANY
PURPORTED BREACH AS A MATTER OF LAW....................................71
A. Novell Has Explicitly Waived The Alleged Breaches By IBM.......... 71
B. Through Its Own Conduct, SCO Has Waived Its Purported
Rights To Claim Breach of Contract..................................................74
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................77
TABLE OF AUTHORITIES
Cases
AXA Global Risks U.S. Ins. Co. v. Sweet Assocs., Inc.,
755 N.Y.S.2d 759 (N.Y. App. Div. 2003).........................................................................71
American Express Bank Ltd. v. Uniroyal, Inc.,
562 N.Y.S.2d 613 (N.Y. App. Div. 1990).........................................................................49
Banks v. Rite Aid Corp.,
No. 1:98CV115K, 2001 WL 1806857 (D. Utah Mar. 15, 2001).................................46-47
Compagnie Financiere de CIC et de L'Union Europeenne v. Merrill Lynch, Pierce,
Fenner & Smith, Inc., 232 F.3d 153 (2d Cir. 2000)..........................:................................66
Croce v. Kurnit,
737 F.2d 229 (2d Cir. 1984)...............................................................................................64
Elec. Distribs., Inc. v. SFR, Inc.,
166 F.3d 1074 (10th Cir. 1999).........................................................................................49
Elsky v. Hearst Corp.,
648 N.Y.S.2d 592 (N.Y. App. Div. 1996).........................................................................70
In Re Estate of Flake,
71 P.3d 589 (Utah 2003)..............................................................................................71, 74
Factors, Etc., Inc. v. Creative Card Co.,
444 F. Supp. 279 (S.D.N.Y. 1977)....................................................................................65
Farmland Indus., Inc. v. Grain Board of Iraq,
904 F.2d 732 (D.C. Cir. 1990).....................................................................................62-63
Farrell Lines, Inc. v. City of New York,
281 N.E.2d 162 (N.Y. 1972)..............................................................................................67
Federal Ins. Co. v. Americas Ins. Co.,
691 N.Y.S.2d 508 (N.Y. App. Div. 1999)..................................................................62, 64
General Elec. Capital Co. v. Armadora, S.A.,
37 F.3d 41 (2d Cir. 1994).............................................................................................65-66
Glezos v. Frontier Inv.,
896 P.2d 1230 (Utah Ct. App. 1995).................................................................................49
Goodman v. Resolution Trust Corp.,
7 F.3d 1123 (4th Cir. 1993)...............................................................................................62
In re Grandote Country Club Co.,
252 F.3d 1146 (10th Cir. 2001)...................................................................................46, 47
Heidi E.v. Wanda W.,
620 N.Y.S.2d 665 (N.Y. App. Div. 1994).........................................................................74
In re Holocaust Victim Assets Litig.,
256 F. Supp. 2d 150 (E.D.N.Y. 2003).........................................................................53-54
Jacobson v. Sassower,
489 N.E.2d 1283 (N.Y. 1985)............................................................................................66
Johnson v. Werner,
407 N.Y.S.2d 28 (N.Y. App. Div. 1978)...........................................................................67
Kaiser-Francis Oil Co. v. Producer's Gas Co.,
870 F.2d 563 (10th Cir. 1989)...........................................................................................66
Leighton's Inc. v. Century Circuit, Inc.,
463 N.Y.S.2d 790 (N.Y. App. Div. 1983).........................................................................67
In re Lipper Holdings, LLC,
766 N.Y.S.2d 561 (N.Y. App. Div. 2003).........................................................................67
Litchfield v. Spielberg,
736 F.2d 1352 (9th Cir. 1984)...........................................................................................52
Mandelblatt v. Devon Stores, Inc.,
521 N.Y.S.2d 672 (N.Y. App. Div. 1987).........................................................................67
Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp.,
475 U.S. 574(1986)...........................................................................................................47
Moncrief v. Williston Basin Interstate Pipeline Co.,
174 F.3d 1150 (10th Cir. 1999).........................................................................................56
Nassau Trust Co. v, Montrose Concrete Prods. Corp.,
436 N.E.2d 1265 (N.Y. 1982)............................................................................................65
Ocean Transp. Line, Inc. v. American Philippine Fiber Indus., Inc.,
743 F.2d 85 (2d Cir. 1984).................................................................................................65
Old Colony Trust Co. v. City of Omaha,
230 U.S. 100(1913)...........................................................................................................64
RJE Corp. v. Northville Indus. Corp.,
198 F. Supp. 2d 249 (E.D.N.Y. 2002).........................................................................54, 65
R/S Assoc. v. New York Job Dev. Auth.,
98 N.Y.2d 29 (N.Y. 2002).................................................................................................49
Reape v. New York News, Inc.,
504 N.Y.S.2d 469 (N.Y. App. Div. 1986).........................................................................67
Rehberger v. Richtberg,
744 N.Y.S.2d 477 (N.Y. App. Div. 2002).........................................................................49
Rieter v. Tavella,
549 N.Y.S.2d 888 (N.Y. App. Div. 1990).........................................................................67
Sec. Indus. Automation Corp. v. United Comp. Capital Corp.,
723 N.Y.S.2d 668 (N.Y. App. Div. 2001).........................................................................76
Soter's Inc. v. Deseret Fed. Sav. & Loan Ass'n,
857 P.2d 935 (Utah 1993)..................................................................................................71
T.W.A. Trading, Inc. v. Gold Coast Freightways, Inc.,
No. 2001-900, 2002 WL 1311648 (N.Y. App. Term Apr. 2, 2002)..................................76
Teachers Ins. & Annuity Ass'n of Am. v. Ocwen Fin. Corp.,
No. 98 Civ. 7137, 2002 WL 237836 (S.D.N.Y. Feb. 19, 2002)..................................64-65
This Is Me, Inc. v. Taylor,
157 F.3d 139 (2d Cir. 1998)...............................................................................................53
United Rentals (North America), Inc. v. Keizer,
355 F.3d 399 (6th Cir. 2004).............................................................................................62
Vault Corp. v. Quaid Software Ltd.,
847 F.2d 255 (5th Cir. 1988).............................................................................................52
Viacom Int'l, Inc. v. Lorimar Productions, Inc.,
486 F. Supp. 95 (S.D.N.Y. 1980)..................................................................................,...65
Westchester Resco Co., L.P. v. New England Reinsurance Corp.,
818 F.2d 2 (2d Cir. 1987)...................................................................................................66
Statutes
17 U.S.C. § 101..............................................................................................................................52
17 U.S.C. § 103(b)............................................................:..............................................:.............70
17 U.S.C. § 106..............................................................................................................................70
17 U.S.C. §201(a).........................................................................................................................70
Defendant/Counterclaim-Plaintiff International Business Machines Corporation ("IBM")
respectfully submits this memorandum in support of its motion for partial summary judgment on
Plaintiff/Counterclaim-Defendant The SCO Group, Inc.'s ("SCO") breach of contract claims.
Preliminary Statement
Nearly two decades ago, IBM entered into licensing agreements with AT&T for the
source code to the UNIX System V operating system. After all this time, SCO—which played no
part in negotiating the agreements but purports recently to have acquired rights to them through a
succession of corporate acquisitions—seeks to use the agreements to prevent IBM from
contributing its own original source code (not UNIX System V source code) to the public
operating system known as Linux. SCO's contract claims rely on an unsupported and
unsupportable reading of IBM's agreements with AT&T and should be rejected as a matter of
law.
SCO has asserted four separate contract claims against IBM relating to the UNIX System
V licenses entered into by IBM and Sequent Computer Systems, Inc. (a company acquired by
IBM in 1999) with AT&T. These licenses are in the form of a "Software Agreement", which
sets forth the terms under which UNIX System V source code can be used and disclosed, and a
"Sublicensing Agreement", which sets forth the terms under which software based on UNIX
System V code can be distributed.
Although SCO for months perpetuated the illusion that it had evidence that IBM took
confidential source code from UNIX System V and "dumped" it into Linux, it has become clear
that SCO has no such evidence. Instead, SCO's claims that IBM breached its agreements with
AT&T depend entirely on the allegation that IBM improperly contributed certain of IBM's
original source code, contained in its own AIX and Dynix operating systems (each of which
contain tens of millions of lines of source code), to Linux. According to SCO, because AIX and
Dynix allegedly contain some small component of source code from UNIX System V (SCO
claims there are approximately 74,000 lines of UNIX System V code in AIX and approximately
78,000 lines in Dynix, which amounts to less than one percent of the total lines of code in AIX
and Dynix), IBM is prohibited by its licensing agreements from disclosing any of the other
millions of lines of code in AIX or Dynix, even if that code was created by or for IBM and
contains no UNIX System V code.
SCO is wrong as a matter of law, and IBM is entitled to partial summary judgment on
SCO's contract claims, for at least two independent reasons.
First, the AT&T agreements upon which SCO's claims are based do not preclude IBM
from using and disclosing source code that is written by IBM and does not include UNIX System
V code (referred to herein as "homegrown" code):
1. The plain and unambiguous language of the agreements imposes no
restrictions on the use or disclosure of source code that does not contain
UNIX System V code. (See Section I.A.)
2. The individuals who executed the licenses and were involved in their
negotiation, on behalf of both AT&T and IBM, have offered unequivocal
testimony that the agreements were not intended and should not be
understood to preclude IBM's use and disclosure of homegrown code and
contemporaneous documents reflect this interpretation of the licenses.
(See Section I.B.)
3. Interpreting the licenses to prohibit the disclosure of homegrown code
would be patently unreasonable. (See Section I.C.)
Second, even if the AT&T agreements could be read to preclude the disclosure of
homegrown code—and they cannot be—any breach based upon such a reading has been waived
by Novell, Inc. ("Novell") on behalf of SCO, and by SCO itself:
1. Novell, which at one time owned all rights in the AT&T agreements at
issue, retains the right to waive alleged breaches of the agreements, and
Novell has exercised that right to effect a waiver of the alleged breaches in
this case. (See Section II.A.)
2. SCO itself sold or otherwise made available to its customers and the
public the code it claims IBM should not have revealed. By its own
conduct, therefore, SCO has waived any right to claim that IBM acted
improperly by contributing its code to Linux. (See Section II.B.)
For these reasons, partial summary judgment should be entered on behalf of IBM on
SCO's claims for breach of contract (SCO's First, Second, Third and Fourth Causes of Action).
Statement Of Undisputed Facts
I. The UNIX Operating System.
1. The earliest UNIX operating system was developed in 1969 at Bell Laboratories,
then the research division of AT&T Corp. ("AT&T"). (See Ex. 1 (Second Am. Compl.) ¶¶ 1, 23;
Ex. 2 (Ans. to Second Am. Counterclaims) ¶¶ 1, 8; Ex. 4 (SCO's. Opp. to IBM's Motion for
Summary Judgment on its Tenth Counterclaim) ¶ 1.)
2. AT&T developed many different versions of its UNIX operating systems
(including, for example, UNIX Versions 1 through 7, UNIX 32V and UNIX System III). (See
Ex. 2 ¶ 9.) The version of UNIX developed by AT&T during the early 1980s was known as
UNIX System V, of which there were multiple subsequent releases (e.g., System V Release 2.0,
System V Release 3.0, System V Release 4.0). (See Ex. 5 (30(b)(6) Deposition of William M.
Broderick) at 32:2-13.)
3. Over the years, through various business units and subsidiaries, including AT&T
Technologies, Inc. and UNIX System Laboratories, Inc. ("USL"), AT&T licensed various
versions of its UNIX operating system, both in source code and object code form, to many
thousands of persons and entities for their use. (See Ex. 1 ¶¶ 23-24 ; Ex. 2 ¶ 9; Ex. 4 ¶ 2.)
4. AT&T also licensed many companies to distribute their own UNIX operating
systems, at least some versions of which contained some source code from AT&T's UNIX
software. (See Ex. 1 ¶¶ 24-27; Ex. 4 ¶ 3.) Such operating systems include Sun Microsystems,
Inc.'s "Solaris" operating system, Hewlett-Packard Co.'s "HP-UX" operating system, and Silicon
Graphics, Inc.'s "IRIX" operating system. (See Ex. 1 ¶¶ 24-27; Ex. 4 ¶ 3.)
5. Like these other companies, IBM developed and distributed a UNIX operating
system known as AIX. (See Ex. 2 ¶ 13.) In 1999, IBM acquired Sequent Computer Systems,
Inc. ("Sequent"), which had itself developed and distributed a UNIX operating system known as
Dynix/ptx ("Dynix"). (See id ¶ 16.)
6. Like many software programs, IBM's AIX and Dynix operating systems—which
each consist of millions of lines of code—contain code from numerous sources, including code
written by IBM software engineers (or outside contractors retained by IBM) and also code
written by third parties and licensed to IBM for inclusion in AIX or Dynix. (See Thomas Decl.
¶¶ 4-5; Nelson Decl. ¶¶ 4-5.) The AIX 5.2.0 release, for example, contains approximately 63
million lines of source code. (See Thomas Decl. ¶ 4.) The latest Dynix release contains
approximately 30 million lines of source code. (See Nelson Decl. ¶ 4.)
7. SCO alleges that it has found approximately 74,000 lines of UNIX System V code
in AIX and approximately 78,000 lines of UNIX System V code in Dynix. (See Ex. 6 (4/19/04
Letter from B. Hatch to T. Shaughnessy) at Exs. E & F.) SCO does not contend (and in any case
has no evidence) that IBM has misused any of these lines of code. (See id.)
II. The Linux Operating System.
8. Linux is an operating system originally developed by a student at the University of
Helsinki named Linus Torvalds. (See Ex. 7 (SCO Linux Introduction Version 1.2) at 1-5.)
Torvalds's idea was to create a new, free operating system. (See id.)
9. Torvalds began developing the Linux "kernel", the core of the operating system,
in 1991, and posting news of his project to Internet newsgroups, along with a call for volunteers
to assist in his efforts. (See Ex. 7 at 1-5.)
10. Through the use of the Internet, other volunteer programmers collaborated with
Torvalds to develop the source code in the Linux kernel, the first version of which, Version 1.0,
was released to the public in 1994. (See Ex. 7 at 1-5.)
11. Linux is an "open source" program, which means, among other things, that its
source code is publicly available, royalty-free, and users have the freedom to run, copy,
distribute, study, adapt and improve the software. (See Ex. 2 ¶ 22; Ex. 4 ¶ 8.) Indeed, the source
code for Linux is publicly available for download on the Internet. (See Ex. 2 ¶ 23.)
12. In the years since the first public release of Linux, thousands of additional
developers, including developers at IBM and SCO, have contributed to the further development
of Linux. (See Ex. 2 ¶ 20; Ex. 8 (SCO website pages identifying SCO's contributions to Linux);
Ex. 9 (SCO's Fiscal Year 2000 10K/A) at 15, 22, 26.) Version 2.4 of the Linux kernel was
released in 2001. (See Ex. 2 ¶ 20.)
13. Various companies, such as Red Hat, Inc., offer commercial "Linux
distributions", which typically comprise the Linux kernel, the applications that the kernel runs
(which, with the kernel, comprise a complete operating system), and whatever other programs the
distributor chooses to include in its product. (See Ex. 2 ¶ 21; Ex. 9 at 5-9, 26.) SCO is among
the companies that make their own Linux distributions available to the public. (See Ex. 2 ¶ 21;
Ex. 9 at 5-9, 26.)
III. IBM's And Sequent's Licenses To UNIX System V.
14. In the mid-1980s, IBM and Sequent entered into a number of agreements with
AT&T concerning UNIX System V, as did hundreds of other companies. (See Ex. 1 ¶¶ 62-69;
Ex. 2 ¶¶ 12, 15.)
15. The basic licensing agreements IBM and Sequent entered into with AT&T, the
IBM Software Agreement (Number SOFT-00015), dated February 1, 1985 (Ex. 10), and the
Sequent Software Agreement (Number SOFT-000321), dated April 18, 1985 (Ex. 11), were
standard form agreements that AT&T utilized at the time to license UNIX System V. (See
Wilson Decl. ¶ 6; Frasure Decl. ¶ 11; DeFazio Decl. ¶ 14; Kistenberg Decl. ¶ 7; Vuksanovich
Decl. ¶ 10.) The standard software agreements set forth the terms under which UNIX System V
can be used and disclosed. (See Exs. 10 & 11; Wilson Decl. ¶ 6; Frasure Decl. ¶ 11; DeFazio
Decl. ¶ 14; Kistenberg Decl. ¶ 8; Vuksanovich Decl. ¶ 11.)
16. IBM and Sequent also entered into sublicensing agreements with AT&T. (Exs. 12
& 13.) Like the software agreements, the IBM Sublicensing Agreement (Number SUB-00015A),
dated February 1, 1985 (Ex. 12), and the Sequent Sublicensing Agreement (Number SUB-000321 A), dated January 28, 1986 (Ex. 13), were standard form agreements utilized by AT&T at
the time. (See Wilson Decl. ¶ 6; DeFazio Decl. ¶ 15; Kistenberg Decl. ¶ 7.) The sublicensing
agreements set forth the terms under which software programs "based on" UNIX System V can
be distributed. (Exs. 11 & 12; Wilson Decl. ¶ 6; DeFazio Decl. ¶ 15.)
17. The same day that IBM and AT&T entered into the IBM Software and
Sublicensing Agreements, they also executed a letter agreement dated February 1, 1985 (the
"Side Letter"). (Ex. 14.)
18. The Side Letter clarified the parties' understanding of certain provisions of the
IBM Software and Sublicensing Agreements and amended certain other provisions thereof. (See
Ex. 14 at 1.)
IV. AT&T's UNIX Assets.
19. In 1993, AT&T sold USL, which then held all of AT&T's UNIX-related assets
(including AT&T's licensing agreements relating to all its versions of UNIX, such as UNIX
System V), to Novell. (See Ex. 2 ¶ 10.)
20. In 1995, Novell sold certain of the UNIX assets it had acquired from AT&T,
along with other UNIX assets Novell had developed during its ownership of USL (such as the
UnixWare software), to The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc. ("Santa Cruz") pursuant to an Asset
Purchase Agreement (the "APA"), dated September 19,1995. (Ex. 15.)
21. Notwithstanding Novell's sale to Santa Cruz of most of its UNIX and UnixWare
assets, Novell nevertheless retained certain rights with respect to the licenses AT&T had granted
for releases of UNIX System V, known as "SVRX Licenses" (System V Release X Licenses).
(See Ex. 15 § 4.16 & Schedule 1.1(a)(VI) (listing releases of UNIX System V for which AT&T
had granted licenses).)
22. Specifically, under Section 4.16(a) of the APA, Novell retained the rights to "all
royalties, fees and other amounts due under all SVRX Licenses", less a five percent
administrative fee to be paid to Santa Cruz for the collection of such royalties. (Ex. 15 § 4.16(a).)
23. In addition, under Section 4.16(b) of the APA, Novell retained the right "at [its]
sole discretion" to direct Santa Cruz to "amend, supplement, modify or waive any rights under
. .. any SVRX License", and to take any such actions on Santa Cruz's behalf if Santa Cruz failed
to do so. (Ex. 15 § 4.16(b) (emphasis added).) In relevant part, Section 4.16(b) of the APA
provides:
"Buyer shall not, and shall not have the authority to, amend, modify or
waive any right under or assign any SVRX License without the prior
written consent of Seller. In addition, at Seller's sole discretion and
direction, Buyer shall amend, supplement, modify or waive any rights
under, or shall assign any rights to, any SVRX License to the extent so
directed in any manner or respect by Seller. In the event that Buyer shall
fail to take any such action concerning the SVRX License as required
herein, Seller shall be authorized, and hereby is granted, the rights to take
any action on Buyer's own behalf."
(Id.)
24. On October 17, 1996, after Novell's sale of assets to Santa Cruz, IBM, Novell and
Santa Cruz entered into Amendment X to the IBM Software and Sublicensing Agreements. (Ex.
16.)
25. Amendment X specifically acknowledged that as part of the sale by Novell of its
UNIX assets to Santa Cruz, "SCO purchased, and Novell retained, certain rights with respect to"
the agreements IBM entered into with AT&T, including "Software Agreement SOFT-00015 as
amended" and "Sublicensing Agreement SUB-00015A as amended". (Ex. 16 at 1 (emphasis
added).)
26. Under Amendment X, among other things, IBM was granted by Novell and Santa
Cruz, in exchange for a payment of $10,125,000, "the irrevocable, fully-paid-up, perpetual right
to exercise all of its rights under [the IBM Software and Sublicensing Agreements] beginning
January 1, 1996 at no additional royalty fee". (Ex. 16 at 1, 4.)
27. Plaintiff SCO, which was then known as Caldera Systems, Inc. ("Caldera"),
purports subsequently to have acquired certain of Santa Cruz's business units in August 2000.
(See Ex. 17 (8/2/00 SCO Press Release).) As part of this acquisition, Caldera allegedly acquired
all of Santa Cruz's assets and rights related to UNIX and UnixWare. (See id.)
28. Caldera changed its name to The SCO Group, Inc. in May 2003. (Ex. 2 ¶ 36.)
V. SCO's Failure Properly To Provide Evidence In Support Of Its Lawsuit.
29. SCO filed its original Complaint, which featured a claim for the misappropriation
of trade secrets, on March 6, 2003. (Ex. 18 (Complaint).) In that Complaint, SCO also alleged
that IBM had breached its UNIX System V license by "subject[ing] SCO's UNIX trade secrets to
unrestricted disclosure, unauthorized transfer and disposition, unauthorized use, and has
otherwise encouraged others in the Linux development community to do the same". (Id. ¶ 135.)
30. SCO. failed in the Complaint, however, to identify with any specificity what
"UNIX trade secrets" it claimed were at issue. (See Ex. 18.) SCO instead described its trade
secrets only as "unique know how, concepts, ideas, methodologies, standards, specifications,
programming, techniques, UNIX Software Code, object code, architecture, design and
schematics that allow UNIX to operate with unmatched extensibility, scalability, reliability and
security". (Id. ¶ 105.) SCO did not identify any specific UNIX code upon which it based its
claim. (See id.)
31. IBM served its First Set of Interrogatories on June 13, 2003. (Ex.19.) Among
other things, IBM's interrogatories requested that SCO "identify, with specificity (by product,
file and line of code, where appropriate) all of the alleged trade secrets and any confidential or
proprietary information that plaintiff alleges or contends IBM misappropriated or misused".
(Interrogatory No. 1 (emphasis added).) The interrogatories further requested that SCO identify
the "nature and source of [its] rights" to the code at issue (Interrogatory No. 2 (emphasis added))
and the "origin" of such code (Interrogatory No. 6 (emphasis added)).
32. Prior to responding to IBM's interrogatories, SCO filed an Amended Complaint
on July 22, 2003. (Ex. 20.) The Amended Complaint, however, did not identify in any greater
detail the trade secrets allegedly misappropriated by IBM. (See id.) Again, SCO described its
trade secrets only as "unique know how, concepts, ideas, methodologies, standards,
specifications, programming, techniques, UNIX Software Code, object code, architecture, design
and schematics that allow UNIX to operate with unmatched extensibility, scalability, reliability
and security". (Id. ¶ 161.)
33. With respect to its breach of contract claims, SCO alleged in the Amended
Complaint only that IBM has misused SCO's "Software Products (including System V source
code, derivative works and methods based thereon)". (Ex. 20 ¶ 106.) Although SCO purported
to provide a list of "protected UNIX methods" allegedly misused by IBM (id. ¶ 108), SCO still
failed to identify any code from UNIX System V in which these methods were embodied. (See
Id.)
34. SCO answered IBM's First Set of Interrogatories on August 4, 2003. (Ex. 21.) In
its response to Interrogatory No. 1, SCO stated only that its trade secrets—which it
correspondingly claimed IBM misused in breach of its licensing agreements—"include without
limitation UNIX software design methods for creation and modification of software based on
UNIX System V". (Id. at 5.) Again, however, SCO failed to identify any code in UNIX System
V that it claimed to contain trade secrets, or that IBM misused in breach of its licenses. (See id.)
35. SCO also failed to provide proper responses to IBM's Second Set of
Interrogatories, which IBM served on September 16, 2003. (Ex. 22.) Those interrogatories
requested, among other things, that SCO "identify, with specificity (by file and line of code): (a)
all source code and other material in Linux ... to which plaintiff has rights; and (b) the nature of
plaintiffs rights, including but not limited to whether and how the code or other material derives
from UNIX." (Interrogatory No. 12 (emphasis added).)
36. Based on SCO's continuing refusal to provide more detail regarding its
allegations, IBM moved to compel complete responses to both sets of interrogatories. (Exs. 23 &
24.) Judge Wells held a hearing on December 5, 2003 to consider IBM's motions to compel.
(See Ex. 25 (hearing transcript).)
37. At the hearing, and despite its earlier pleadings, SCO finally acknowledged that
there are in fact no trade secrets in UNIX System V. Counsel for SCO stated: "There is no trade
secret in Unix system [V]. That is on the record. No problem with that." (Ex. 25 at 46:2-3.)
38. In addition, SCO clarified that the basis of its contract claims against IBM was not
that IBM contributed to Linux code that had been literally copied from UNIX System V, but had
instead contributed code that had been derived from UNIX System V code. (Ex. 25 at 13-14.)
39. At the conclusion of the hearing, Judge Wells granted IBM's motions. (Ex. 25 at
52-53.) Judge Wells subsequently issued an Order dated December 12, 2003 directing SCO,
among other things, to "identify and state with specificity the source code(s) that SCO is
claiming form the basis of their action against IBM" by January 12, 2004. (Ex. 26 (12/12/03
Order) ¶ 4.)
40. SCO served its "Revised Supplemental Response" to IBM's interrogatories on
January 15, 2004, which SCO claimed complied with the December 12, 2003 Order. (Ex. 27.)
41. In its Revised Response, SCO did not identify any trade secrets that IBM allegedly
misappropriated, from UNIX System V or any other of SCO's allegedly proprietary materials.
(See Ex. 27.)
42. In addition, SCO did not identify a single line of UNIX System V code upon
which it based its contract claims. (See Ex. 27.) Instead, SCO asserted its claims were based
solely on IBM's disclosure of modules of code related to certain technologies contained in IBM's
AIX and Dynix software programs. (See id. at 3-30.)
43. Specifically, SCO claimed that IBM breached its contract by contributing to Linux
specific files and lines of code in AIX and Dynix associated with the Read Copy Update
("RCU"), Journaling File System ("JFS"), Enterprise Volume Management System ("EVMS")
and asynchronous input/output ("AIO") technologies. (See Ex. 27 at 3-30.) In addition, SCO
claimed that IBM improperly contributed code for scatter/gather input/output and symmetric
multiprocessing ("SMP"), though SCO did not identify the specific code at issue. (See id.)
Moreover, SCO did not identify any code in UNIX System V from which any of these
technologies in AIX and Dynix were allegedly derived. (See id.)
44. In a letter dated January 30, 2004, IBM informed SCO that it did not believe that
SCO's Revised Response complied fully with Judge Wells' December 12, 2003 Order,
principally because "SCO still fails to identify any files or lines of code in its own UNIX System
V product that IBM is alleged to have misappropriated or misused". (Ex. 28.)
45. SCO responded by letter on February 4, 2004, declining to identify any UNIX
System V code, and explaining that its claims did not require the identification of UNIX System
V code. (Ex. 29.) As SCO put it, "IBM keeps insisting on something that is not part of SCO's
claims, so it should come as no surprise that files or lines of code in System V have not been
identified." (Id at 2.) .
46. At a hearing on February 6, 2004, IBM informed Judge Wells that it did not
believe that SCO had complied with the December 12, 2003 Order. (See Ex. 30 (hearing
transcript) at 4.) Judge Wells subsequently issued an Order on March 3, 2004, directing SCO
once again to comply "with the Court's previous order dated December 12, 2003", this time by
April 19, 2004. (Ex. 31.) Among other things, the Court directed SCO "to provide and identify
all specific lines of code that IBM is alleged to have contributed to Linux from either AIX or
Dynix" and "to provide and identify all specific lines of code from Unix System V from which
IBM's contributions from AIX or Dynix are alleged to be derived". (Id. ¶ I.2-3.)
47. In the meantime, SCO sought, and was granted, permission to file a Second
Amended Complaint. (Ex. 1.) In its Second Amended Complaint, filed on February 27, 2004,
SCO abandoned its claim for misappropriation of trade secrets altogether. (See id.)
48. On April 19, 2004, SCO submitted additional discovery responses to IBM, which
SCO claimed "fully complied" with the Court's orders. (Ex. 6.) SCO's April 19, 2004
submission, however, does not even attempt to "identify all specific lines of code from Unix
System V from which IBM's contributions from AIX or Dynix are alleged to be derived", as
ordered by the Court. (Ex. 31 ¶ I.3.) Neither that submission nor any of SCO's other responses
to IBM's discovery requests discloses any evidence that IBM contributed to Linux or otherwise
disclosed any UNIX System V code or IBM's entire AIX and Dynix programs. (Exs. 6 & 27.)
VI. SCO's Newfound Contract Theory.
49. In its Second Amended Complaint, SCO asserts four separate breach of contract
claims, all of which rest on the underlying allegation that IBM breached its licenses for the UNIX
System V software program. (Ex. 1 ¶¶ 110-172.)
50. SCO's First and Third Causes of Action allege that IBM misused source code
subject to the IBM and Sequent Software Agreements by contributing such code to Linux. (Ex. 1
¶¶ 110-136, 143-166.)
51. Specifically, SCO alleges that IBM and Sequent breached Sections 2.01, 2.05,
4.01, 7.06(a) and 7.10 of the Software Agreements. (Ex. 1 ¶¶ 112-125.) Those sections provide
as follows:
Section 2.01
"AT&T grants to LICENSEE a personal, nontransferable and
nonexclusive right to use in the United States each SOFTWARE
PRODUCT identified in the one or more Supplements hereto, solely for
LICENSEE'S own internal business purposes and solely on or in
conjunction with DESIGNATED CPUs for such SOFTWARE
PRODUCT. Such right to use includes the right to modify such
SOFTWARE PRODUCT and to prepare derivative works based on such
SOFTWARE PRODUCT, provided the resulting materials are treated
hereunder as part of the original SOFTWARE PRODUCT."
Section 2.05
"No right is granted by this Agreement for the use of SOFTWARE
PRODUCTS directly for others, or for any use of SOFTWARE
PRODUCTS by others."
Section 4.01
"LICENSEE agrees that it will not, without the prior written consent of
AT&T, export, directly or indirectly, SOFTWARE PRODUCTS covered
by this Agreement to any country outside of the United States."
Section 7.06(a)
"LICENSEE agrees that it shall hold all parts of the SOFTWARE
PRODUCTS subject to this Agreement in confidence for AT&T.
LICENSEE further agrees that it shall not make any disclosure of any or
all of such SOFTWARE PRODUCTS (including methods or concepts
utilized therein) to anyone, except to employees of LICENSEE to whom
such disclosure is necessary to the use for which rights are granted
hereunder. ... If information relating to a SOFTWARE PRODUCT
subject to this Agreement at any time becomes available without
restriction to the general public by acts not attributable to LICENSEE or
its employees, LICENSEE'S obligations under this section shall not
apply to such information after such time."
Section 7.10
"Except as provided in Section 7.06(b), nothing in this Agreement grants
to LICENSEE the right to sell, lease or otherwise transfer or dispose of a
SOFTWARE PRODUCT in whole or in part."
(Exs. 10 & 11.)
52. IBM's Side Letter with AT&T contains additional language relating to certain of
these provisions. (See Ex. 14.) In particular, the Side Letter provides:
"Regarding Section 2.01; we agree that that modifications and derivative
works prepared by or for [IBM] are owned by [IBM]. However,
ownership of any portion or portions of SOFTWARE PRODUCTS
included in any such modification or derivative work remains with
[AT&T]."
(Id at 2.)
53. This additional language in the Side Letter was intended only to clarify the
parties' intent in Section 2.01 of the IBM Software Agreement, not to change it. (Wilson Decl.
¶¶ 19-20; Frasure Decl. ¶¶ 17-18; DeFazio Decl. ¶ 18; Vuksanovich Decl. ¶¶ 15-16; McDonough
Decl. ¶¶ 13-14; Cronan Decl. ¶¶ 13-16; Mobley Decl. ¶¶ 10-13.)
54. In addition, the Side Letter, and later Amendment X, amended Section 7.06(a) of
the IBM Software Agreement to provide as follows:
"LICENSEE agrees that it shall hold SOFTWARE PRODUCTS subject
to this Agreement in confidence for AT&T. LICENSEE further agrees
that it shall not make any disclosure of such SOFTWARE PRODUCTS
to anyone, except to employees of LICENSEE to whom such disclosure
is necessary to the use for which rights are granted hereunder. . . .
Nothing in this Agreement shall prevent LICENSEE from developing or
marketing products or services employing ideas, concepts, know-how or
techniques relating to data processing embodied in SOFTWARE
PRODUCTS subject to this Agreement, provided that LICENSEE shall
not copy any code from such SOFTWARE PRODUCTS into any such
product or in connection with any such service. . . . If information
relating to a SOFTWARE PRODUCT subject to this Agreement at any
time becomes available without restriction to the general public by acts
not attributable to LICENSEE or its employees, LICENSEE'S obligations
under this section shall not apply to such information after such time."
(Exs. 14¶ A.9 & 16 ¶6.)
55. In any case, as is evident on their face, whatever restrictions imposed by Sections
2.01, 2.05, 4.01, 7.06(a) and 7.10 of the IBM and Sequent Software Agreements pertain only to
the "SOFTWARE PRODUCT" that is the subject of the agreements. (Exs. 10 & 11.)
56. The IBM and Sequent Software Agreements define the term "SOFTWARE
PRODUCT" as:
"[M]aterials such as COMPUTER PROGRAMS, information used or
interpreted by COMPUTER PROGRAMS and documentation relating to
the use of COMPUTER PROGRAMS. Materials available from AT&T
for a specific SOFTWARE PRODUCT are listed in the Schedule for
such SOFTWARE PRODUCT."
(Ex. 10 § 1.04; Ex. 11 § 1.04.) The various schedules attached to the IBM and Sequent Software
Agreements identify the specific "SOFTWARE PRODUCT"or "SOFTWARE PRODUCTS",
and related materials, that AT&T provided under the terms of the agreements. (Exs. 10 & 11.)
57. The particular "SOFTWARE PRODUCT" at issue in this case is "UNIX System
V". (E.g., Exs. 32 (Supplement No. 1 to the IBM Software Agreement (pertaining to the "UNIX
System V, Release 2.0" computer program and related documentation)) & 33 (Supplement No. 2
to the Sequent Software Agreement (pertaining to the "UNIX System V, Release 2.0" computer
program and related documentation)).)
58. As stated above (at ¶¶ 31-48), SCO's responses to IBM's interrogatories do not,
however, identify any UNIX System V source code that IBM allegedly contributed to Linux or
otherwise disclosed. (See Exs. 6 & 27.)
59. Moreover, SCO's responses to IBM's interrogatories do not identify any UNIX
System V source code from which any of the code that IBM contributed to Linux is allegedly
derived. (See Exs. 6 & 27.) Indeed, SCO refused to provide such information because it "is not
part of SCO's claims". (Ex. 29 at 2.)
60. It is plain from SCO's discovery responses that SCO has no evidence that any of
the source code IBM contributed to Linux is either literally copied from source code in UNIX
System V or is derived from source code in UNIX System V. (See Exs. 6 & 27.) Indeed, SCO
has purported to identify the lines of UNIX System V code that are present in AIX and Dynix,
and none of those lines are among the lines of code SCO claims IBM improperly contributed to
Linux. (See Ex. 6 at Exs. E & F.)
61. In addition, Dr. Randall Davis, Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has analyzed the specific lines of source code from
AIX and Dynix that SCO claims IBM contributed to Linux. (Davis Decl. ¶ 23.) As Dr. Davis
has concluded, that code does not contain any portion of source code from UNIX System V and
is not substantially similar to any source code in UNIX System V. (See id. ¶ 48.) Accordingly,
Dr. Davis opines that the specific code IBM allegedly contributed from AIX and Dynix is neither
a modification nor a derivative work of UNIX System V. (See id. ¶ 49.)
62. SCO's contract claims instead rest entirely on the proposition that "[t]he AIX
work as a whole and the Dynix/ptx work as a whole are modifications of, or are derived from
[UNIX] System V". (Ex. 6 at 2.) Under SCO's theory of the case, all of the tens of millions of
lines of code ever associated with any technology found in AIX or Dynix, even if that code does
not contain any UNIX System V code, is subject to the restrictions of the IBM and Sequent
Software Agreements. (See id.)
63. SCO made this position clear in its opposition to IBM's motion for partial
summary judgment on IBM's Tenth Counterclaim. (Ex. 4.) In that brief, SCO argued: "SCO's
contract claims do not depend on any proof that IBM contributed original source code from
UNIX to Linux. Rather, the theory of SCO's case—which is based on the plain, unambiguous
meaning of the Software Agreements—is that IBM breached those agreements by contributing
code from AIX and Dynix." (Ex. 4 ¶ 21.)
64. SCO's Second and Fourth Causes of Action allege that IBM breached the IBM
and Sequent Sublicensing Agreements by continuing to distribute AIX and Dynix after SCO's
purported termination of those agreements on June 13, 2003. (See Ex. 1 ¶¶ 137-42, 167-72.)
65. These two causes of action ultimately depend on SCO's allegation that IBM
"fail[ed] to fulfill one or more of its obligations under the Software Agreements]". (Ex. 1 ¶¶
128, 158.) SCO contends that because IBM breached the IBM and Sequent Software
Agreements, SCO had the right unilaterally to terminate the IBM and Sequent Sublicensing
Agreements. (See id.) Absent breach of the Software Agreements, therefore, there is no breach
of the Sublicensing Agreements.
66. The construction and performance of the IBM and Sequent Software Agreements
and the IBM and Sequent Sublicensing Agreements are governed by New York law. (See Ex. 10
§7.13; Ex. 11 §7.13; Ex. 12 § 6.05; Ex. 13 §6.05.)
VII. AT&T's Interpretation Of Its UNIX System V Licenses.
A. Testimonial Evidence.
1. The Witnesses.
67. The IBM Software Agreement was executed by David Frasure for AT&T, on
behalf of his manager Otis Wilson. (See Ex. 10; Frasure Decl. ¶ 6; Wilson Decl. ¶ 7.) The
Sequent Software Agreement was executed by Mr. Wilson for AT&T. (See Ex. 11; Wilson Decl.
¶8.)v
68. At the time the agreements were signed, Mr. Wilson was the head of AT&T's
department responsible for licensing AT&T's UNIX software, including UNIX System V,
worldwide. (See Wilson Decl. ¶ 3; Ex. 34 (Deposition of Otis L. Wilson) at 41:4-14.) Mr.
Wilson personally signed almost all of the hundreds of UNIX System V licenses AT&T entered
into with its customers. (See Wilson Decl. ¶ 5; Ex. 34 at 42:7-43:6.)
69. Mr. Wilson reported to Michael DeFazio, who was then the head of the overall
AT&T organization responsible for the UNIX software, including product management,
marketing and licensing. (See DeFazio Decl. ¶ 1.) As head of the organization, Mr. DeFazio had
the ultimate responsibility for the terms and conditions of the IBM Software Agreement and the
Sequent Software Agreement. (See id. ¶¶ 6-7.)
70. Mr. Frasure, who reported to Mr. Wilson, was then AT&T's national sales and
licensing manager for its UNIX products. (See Frasure Decl. ¶ 5; Ex. 35 (Deposition of David
Frasure) at 8:1-22.) He participated in negotiating many of AT&T's UNIX System V licenses,
and on occasion signed the agreements on Mr. Wilson's behalf. (See Ex. 35 at 8:13-9:6.)
71. Mr. Steven Vuksanovich also participated in the negotiation of the IBM Software
Agreement on AT&T's behalf. (See Vuksanovich Decl. ¶ 7.) Mr. Vuksanovich was the AT&T
account representative assigned to the IBM account during the time the agreement was
negotiated. (See id.)
72. Mr. Ira Kistenberg also participated in the negotiation of the Sequent Software
Agreement on AT&T's behalf. (Kistenberg Decl. ¶ 4.) Mr. Kistenberg was the AT&T account
representative specifically assigned to the Sequent account during the time the agreement was
negotiated. (See id.)
73. Mr. Geoffrey Green was an attorney for AT&T during the time the IBM and
Sequent Software Agreements were entered into. (Green Decl. ¶¶ 3-5; Ex. 35 at 162:18-20.)
Although Mr. Green does not recall having any involvement in negotiating the agreements (see
Green Decl. ¶ 4), at least Mr. Frasure recalls that Mr. Green had some involvement in the
negotiations. (Ex. 35 at 162:18-20.)
74. Mr. Richard McDonough executed the IBM Software Agreement on behalf of
IBM. (See Ex. 10; McDonough Decl. ¶ 10.) Mr. McDonough was then the Division Counsel for
IBM's System Products Division. (McDonough Decl. ¶ 4.)
75. Mr. Thomas Cronan and Mr. Jeffrey Mobley also participated in the negotiation of
the IBM Software Agreement on IBM's behalf. (See Cronan Decl. ¶ 5; Mobley Decl. ¶ 4.) Mr.
Cronan was then an attorney in IBM's System Products Division. (See Cronan Decl. ¶ 4.) Mr.
Mobley was a member of IBM's corporate Commercial & Industry Relations staff. (See Mobley
Decl.¶¶ 1, 3.)
76. Mr. David Rodgers executed the Sequent Software Agreement on behalf of
Sequent. (See Ex. 10; Rodgers Decl. ¶ 2.) Mr. Rodgers was then Sequent's Vice President of
Engineering. (See Rodgers Decl. ¶ 2.)
77. Mr. Roger Swanson was responsible for the negotiation of the Sequent Software
Agreement on Sequent's behalf. (See Swanson Decl. ¶ 3.) Mr. Swanson was then Sequent's
Director of Software Engineering. (See id. ¶ 2.)
2. Testimony Regarding The Software Agreements.
78. AT&T's licensing agreements for UNIX System V, including the IBM Software
Agreement and the Sequent Software Agreement, were form agreements, as AT&T intended to
apply the same terms to all its licensees. (See Wilson Decl. ¶¶ 10-14, 27; Ex. 34 at 88:9-20;
Kistenberg Decl. ¶¶ 6-7; Vuksanovich Decl. ¶ 10.) As Mr. Frasure states, "our intent was to hold
all licensees to the same basic standard". (Frasure Decl. ¶¶ 9, 23-24; see also Ex. 35 at 25:10-
26:18.)
79. All of the individuals who executed the IBM and Sequent Software Agreements
on behalf of their respective companies, Mr. Wilson, Mr. Frasure, Mr: McDonough and Mr.
Rodgers, agree on the interpretation of AT&T's UNIX System V licenses. (See Wilson Decl. ¶¶
14-15, 27-30; Ex. 34 at 72:8-73:17, Frasure Decl. ¶¶ 13-16, 24-29, McDonough Decl. ¶¶ 11-19;
Rodgers Decl. ¶¶ 7-9; Ex. 36 (Deposition of David P. Rodgers) at 25:15-30:20.) There is no
dispute among them that the IBM Software Agreement and the Sequent Software Agreement
were not intended to, and do not, restrict in any manner the use or disclosure of any original code
written by, or for, IBM and Sequent. (See id.)
80. Moreover, other individuals who participated in, and were responsible for, the
negotiation of the IBM and Sequent Software Agreements, have the same interpretation. (See
DeFazio Decl. ¶¶ 16-17, 20, 22; Kistenberg Decl. ¶¶ 9, 11-12, 22-24; Vuksanovich Decl. ¶¶ 12-
15, 27, 29-30; Green Decl. ¶ 6; Cronan Decl. ¶¶ 9, 11-12, 18-23; Mobley Decl. ¶¶ 6, 8-9, 14-17;
Swanson Decl. ¶¶ 8, 10-13.) Each of these witnesses concurs that the agreements were not
intended to place any restrictions on the use or disclosure of code that was written by, or for,
IBM and Sequent. (See id.)
81. As the witnesses have testified (and as is plain on their face), the sections of the
IBM and Sequent Software Agreements that SCO claims IBM has breached—Sections 2.01,
2.05, 4.01, 7.06(a) and 7.10—pertain only to the "SOFTWARE PRODUCT" that is the subject
of the agreements, UNIX System V, and not any of IBM's and Sequent's homegrown code. (See
Wilson Decl. ¶ 12; Ex. 34 at 48:20-54:6; FrasureDecl.¶ 12; Ex. 35 at 34:13-41:17; Ex. 36 at
47:3-49:19; Kistenberg Decl. ¶ 9; Vuksanovich Decl. ¶ 12; Cronan Decl. ¶ 9; Mobley Decl. ¶ 6;
Swanson Decl. ¶ 8.)
82. For example, Mr. Wilson states in his declaration:
"These provisions set forth our licensees' rights as they relate to the
UNIX System V source code and related materials—the 'SOFTWARE
PRODUCT' or 'SOFTWARE PRODUCTS'—that AT&T provided to
them. At least as I understood these sections and discussed them with
our licensees, they do not, and were not intended to, restrict our
licensees' right to use, export, disclose or transfer their own products and
source code, as long as they did not use, export, disclose or transfer
AT&T's UNIX System V source code along with it. I never understood
AT&T's software agreements to place any restrictions on our customers'
use of their own original work."
(Wilson Decl. ¶ 12.)
At his deposition, he further noted:
"[T]he statement [at paragraph 12 of the declaration] goes . . . to the heart
of the licensing program, from the standpoint that we required our
licensees to protect the software products under the . . . stipulations in the
software agreement, and we did not intend to exercise any control or
restriction on those products that did not contain portions of the software
products."
(Ex. 34 at 53:7-14.)
83. Mr. Frasure states similarly in his declaration:
"Each of these provisions was intended to define the scope of the
licensee's rights only with respect to the 'SOFTWARE PRODUCT' or
'SOFTWARE PRODUCTS', in other words, the UNIX System V source
code and related materials. We did not intend these provisions to restrict
our licensees' use, export, disclosure or transfer of anything besides the
licensed UNIX System V source code and related materials. It would be
inconsistent with the language of the software agreements, and the
intentions of AT&T Technologies in licensing UNIX System V, to say
that the provisions apply, for instance, to our licensees' own code (that,
for example, they developed)."
(Frasure Decl. ¶ 12.)
At his deposition he testified consistently:
"Q: Can you tell me what, in your understanding[,] these sections [of the
contract] are intended to place restrictions on?
A: The restrictions were put on the actual Unix System V source code
product, that the licensee licensed from us."
(Ex. 35 at 41:6-17.)
84. According to each of the witnesses, the "resulting materials" that are to be treated
as part of the "SOFTWARE PRODUCT" in Section 2.01 of the Software Agreements include
only code taken directly from UNIX System V. (See Wilson Decl. ¶¶ 14-15; Ex. 34 at 55:23-
57:14; Frasure Decl. ¶¶ 13-16; Ex. 35 at 42:17-48:25; McDonough Decl. ¶¶ 11-20; Rodgers
Decl. ¶¶ 7-9; Ex. 36 at 25:15-30:20; 100:1-102:5; DeFazio Decl. ¶¶ 16-17; Kistenberg Decl. ¶¶
11-12; Vuksanovich Decl. ¶¶ 14-15; Cronan Decl. ¶ 11; Mobley Decl. ¶¶ 8-9; Swanson Decl. ¶
10.)
85. The witnesses do not dispute that the "resulting materials" referenced in Section
2.01 do not include homegrown code, even when that code is itself contained in a modification or
derivative work based on UNIX System V. (See Wilson Decl. ¶¶ 14-15; Ex. 34 at 55:23-57:14;
Frasure Decl. ¶¶ 13-16; Ex. 35 at 42:17-48:25; McDonough Decl. ¶¶ 11-20; Rodgers Decl. ¶¶ 7-
9; Ex. 36 at 25:15-30:20, 100:1-102:5; DeFazio Decl. ¶¶ 16-17; Kistenberg Decl. ¶¶ 11-12;
Vuksanovich Decl. ¶¶ 14-15; Cronan Decl. ¶ 11; Mobley Decl. ¶¶ 8-9; Swanson Decl. ¶ 10.)
86. Mr. Wilson of AT&T states:
"As my staff and I communicated to our licensees, this provision
[Section 2.01] was only intended to ensure that if a licensee were to
create a modification or derivative work based on UNIX System V, any
material portion of the original UNIX System V source code provided by
AT&T or USL that was included in the modification or derivative work
would remain subject to the confidentiality and other restrictions of the
software agreement. As we understood Section 2.01, any source code
developed by or for a licensee and included in a modification or a
derivative work would not constitute 'resulting materials' to be treated as
part of the original software product, except for any material proprietary
UNIX System V source code provided by AT&T or USL and included
therein."
(Wilson Decl. ¶ 14.)
87. Indeed, Mr. Wilson states that he "do[es] not believe that our licensees would
have been willing to enter into the software agreement if they understood Section 2.01 to grant
AT&T or USL the right to own or control source code developed by the licensee or provided to
the licensee by a third party". (Wilson Decl. ¶ 16; see also Ex. 34 at 57:15-58:20.) Mr. Wilson,
in fact, was of the view at the time "that we could not claim any rights to non-UNIX System V
code source . . . without raising serious antitrust issues". (Id. ¶ 18; see also Ex. 34 at 57:15-
58:20, 59:15-61:3.)
88. Mr. Frasure of AT&T similarly states:
"As we assured our licensees, this language does not, and was never
intended to, give AT&T Technologies the right to assert ownership or
control over modifications or derivative works prepared by its licensees,
except to the extent of the licensed UNIX System V source code that was
included in such modifications or derivative works. The term 'resulting
materials' in the context of the software agreements was intended only to
mean those portions of a licensees' modifications or derivative works
that included the licensed UNIX System V source code."
(Frasure Decl. ¶ 14; see also Ex. 35 at 46:13-48:25.)
89. Mr. Frasure notes further that, "[o]bviously, any materials created by the licensees
that could not even be considered modifications or derivative works of UNIX System V were not
subject to the software agreements at all. Licensees were free to use and disclose any such
materials." (Frasure Decl. ¶ 15.)
90. Mr. DeFazio of AT&T likewise states:
"The [software] agreements did not (and do not) give AT&T, USL,
Novell or any of their successors or assigns the right to assert ownership
or control over modifications and derivative works prepared by its
licensees, except to the extent of the original UNIX System V source code
included in such modifications and derivative works. . . . I do not believe
that our licensees would have been willing to enter into the software
agreement if they understood Section 2.01 to grant AT&T, USL, Novell
or their successors or assigns the right to own or control source code
developed by or for the licensee. Modifications and derivative works
contained UNIX System V source code and code developed by or
provided to the licensee. The UNIX System V source code contained in a
modification or derivative work continued to be owned by AT&T, USL,
Novell or their successors, while the code developed by or provided to the
licensee remained the property of the licensee or provider to the licensee."
(DeFazio Decl. ¶ 17.)
91. Mr. Vuksanovich of AT&T concurs with this interpretation:
"Our standard software agreements also gave licensees the right to modify
UNIX System V source code and to prepare derivative works based upon
the code. As I believe we intended the agreements, and as I told our
licensees, our licensees owned their modifications and derivative works
they prepared based on UNIX System V, and were therefore permitted to
do as they wished with those modifications and derivative works, as long
as they treated those portions of the modifications or derivative works
consisting of any UNIX System V source code the same way they treated
the UNIX System V source code that we provided to them. I recall that
during our negotiations IBM specifically wanted to make sure that IBM,
and not AT&T, would own and control code that was developed by or for
IBM, even if that code was mixed with AT&T's UNIX System V code in
a product. I assured IBM that we had the same understanding."
(Vuksanovich Decl. ¶ 13.)
92. Mr. Kistenberg of AT&T states:
"In my understanding, Section 2.01 did not in any way expand the scope
of the software agreement to restrict our licensees' use, export, disclosure
or transfer of their own original code, even if such code was contained in
a modification or derivative work of UNIX System V. The purpose of
the software agreement was to protect AT&T Technologies' UNIX
System V source code, and was not meant to claim for AT&T
Technologies our licensees' own work. It would not make sense to me to
read this Section 2.01 to place restrictions on code that our licensees
created themselves—that code was theirs."
(Kistenberg Decl.¶ 12.)
93. Mr. Green of AT&T states:
"Without disclosing any legal advice I may have rendered . . . I can say
that, as I understood AT&T's UNIX System V licensing agreements,
AT&T did not intend to assert ownership or control over modifications
and derivative works prepared by licensees, except to the extent of the
original UNIX System V source code included in such modifications and
derivative works. Accordingly, a licensee was free to do with as it
wished (e.g., use, copy, distribute or disclose) code developed by or for
the licensee in its modifications and derivative works, provided that the
licensee did not use, copy, distribute or disclose any portions of the
original UNIX System V code provided by AT&T (except as otherwise
permitted by the license agreements)."
(Green Decl. ¶ 6.)
94. Mr. McDonough of IBM had the same understanding of Section 2.01 of the IBM
Software Agreement. He states in his declaration:
"The language in the standard software agreement relating to the
treatment of resulting materials did not give AT&T Technologies the
right to assert ownership or control over modifications or derivative
works prepared by its licensees, except to the extent that the licensed
UNIX software product was included in such modifications or derivative
works. I understood this language to mean that licensees owned their
modifications and derivative works and were permitted to use or disclose
them as they might choose, so long as any modification or derivative
work containing any part of an AT&T Technologies-licensed software
product was treated the same as an AT&T Technologies-licensed
software product under the license agreements."
(McDonough Decl. ¶ 12.)
He further states:
"As I understood the [agreements] between IBM and AT&T
Technologies, and as the parties intended those agreements to mean, they
did not seek to impose any limitations on the materials separately owned
or developed by IBM or AT&T Technologies, respectively. IBM was
free to use, copy, distribute, or disclose any portion of a modification or
derivative work that was not part of a licensed software product provided
by AT&T Technologies. . . .
Based on my role in negotiating and executing the attached AT&T
Agreements, I cannot understand the basis for plaintiffs contentions that
the AT&T Agreements restricted IBM's freedom of action with respect
to any programming code, source code or otherwise, independently
developed by IBM or its contractors. There is absolutely no way that
IBM would have entered into an agreement with AT&T giving it the
right to control IBM code merely because that code was or had once been
associated with AT&T code in an IBM product. Never would we have
knowingly agreed to a provision that gave AT&T the right to control
what IBM did with its own code (or for that matter the code of third
parties)."
(Id.¶¶15, 18.)
95. Mr. Cronan of IBM similarly states in his declaration:
"Based on my discussions with AT&T Technologies, I did not
understand this language regarding the treatment of 'resulting materials'
to give AT&T Technologies the right to assert ownership or control over
all of the source code of any modifications or derivative works based on
UNIX System V that we prepared. To the contrary, I understood this
language to mean—and I believe AT&T Technologies believed
likewise—that IBM had to treat those parts of our modifications or
derivative works that contained UNIX System V source code as we
would treat the UNIX System V source code itself."
(Cronan Decl. ¶ 11.)
He states further:
"As I understood the AT&T Agreements between IBM and AT&T
Technologies, therefore, and as I believe the parties intended those
agreements, the agreements impose no restrictions on IBM's use, export,
disclosure or transfer of those portions of any modifications or derivative
works of UNIX System V that were created by or for IBM and do not
contain any UNIX System V source code.
So that there would be no confusion, we told the AT&T Technologies'
representatives with whom we negotiated the AT&T Agreements that
IBM intended to include portions of AT&T's UNIX System V code in
products with IBM code and to make changes to the AT&T code (such as
by adding to it) and thus IBM had to ensure that the parties agreed that
IBM had the right to do so, without forfeiting any rights (including the
right to control) to such IBM products and code. AT&T Technologies'
representatives advised us that they did not seek to preclude such
activities. In fact, they assured us that the purpose of the restrictions
imposed by the AT&T Agreements was to protect AT&T's original code
and that IBM could do whatever it wanted with its own code so long as it
did not use, export, disclose or transfer AT&T's original code (except as
otherwise permitted by the AT&T Agreements).
No one involved in the negotiation of the AT&T agreements ever
suggested that the agreements would give AT&T Technologies (or
anyone else other than IBM) the right to control IBM original code. It
seems quite clear to me, based on the statements of its representatives,
that AT&T Technologies' concern was the protection of its original code
only. I have no doubt that the AT&T Technologies' representatives with
whom we negotiated the AT&T Agreements understood that IBM would
not have entered into the AT&T Agreements if AT&T Technologies had
sought and insisted on the right to control any product or code that might
in the future be associated with UNIX System V code, except insofar as
it might include UNIX System V code."
(Id. ¶¶ 18-19, 23.)
96. Mr. Mobley of IBM agrees:
"[T]he AT&T Technologies representatives with whom we negotiated
assured us that under the standard Software Agreement, IBM owned, and
was permitted to use however it wanted, the modifications or derivative
works that we created, or that others created for us, based on the UNIX
System V software, except for any protected UNIX System V source
code that might be contained within our modification or derivative
works. AT&T Technologies made clear to us that we could do whatever
we wanted with original source code that we developed or that was
developed for us by others."
(Mobley Decl. ¶ 9.)
Mr. Mobley added:
"Based on my role in negotiating the attached AT&T Agreements, I do
not believe there is any merit to the plaintiffs contentions. IBM would
never have entered into any agreement that gave AT&T Technologies the
right to control IBM's use of source code that IBM wrote itself, that IBM
paid others to develop, or that IBM licensed from others. That is why we
specifically discussed this issue of ownership of our modifications and
derivative works with AT&T Technologies in detail before entering into
the AT&T Agreements. AT&T Technologies assured us repeatedly that
the AT&T Agreements were not intended to limit IBM's freedom of
action with respect to its original source code and was merely intended to
protect AT&T Technologies' interest in its own UNIX System V source
code, and I believed them."
97. Mr. Rodgers of Sequent interpreted the Sequent Software Agreement the exact
same way. Mr. Rodgers states that Section 2.01 did not give AT&T "the right to assert
ownership or control over modifications or derivative works prepared by Sequent, except to the
extent that the licensed Unix software product was included in such modifications or derivative
works". (Rodgers Decl. ¶¶ 7-9, 13; see also Ex. 36 at 25:15-30:20.)
98. In fact, Mr. Rodgers further states that he "would never have signed an agreement
that would grant ownership or control to AT&T Technologies over modifications or derivative
works prepared by Sequent to the extent those modifications or derivative works contained no
part of the Unix software product licensed from AT&T Technologies". (Id. ¶ 7.) As he
explained it at his deposition:
"It would have been foolish of me, as an officer of a venture finance[d]
start-up company, to give away the rights to the company's core products
in perpetuity. I mean, I certainly would not have done that. So my
understanding—and this was confirmed in some phone calls [with
AT&T]—my understanding was that what AT&T wanted to hold private
was their contribution, their source code contribution, and that that work
which had already been created by Sequent and any work that in the
future that was created by Sequent, not based upon that source code,
remained the property of Sequent."
(Ex. 36 at 27:15-28:14.)
99. Mr. Swanson of Sequent likewise states:
"I did not understand this language in Section 2.01 to give AT&T
Technologies the right to assert ownership or control over modifications
or derivative works based on UNIX System V prepared by Sequent,
except for the licensed UNIX System V code that was included in such
modifications or derivative works. In fact, I recall having discussions
with AT&T Technologies at the time to clarify that Sequent would own
whatever source code we developed.
As a small company at the time, it would not have made any sense for
Sequent to have entered into an agreement that gave AT&T Technologies
control over the source code that we developed for our own software
programs. I never would have agreed to a contract that would grant
AT&T Technologies rights in Sequent's proprietary code, as that source
code was the core of Sequent's software business."
(Swanson Decl. ¶¶ 10-11.)
He further states:
"As the AT&T Technologies explained the agreements to me, Sequent
was free to use, export, disclose or transfer all of the code contained in
any modifications or derivative works of UNIX System V developed by
Sequent, provided that Sequent did not improperly use, export, disclose
or transfer any portion of the UNIX System V code we were licensing
from AT&T Technologies (except as otherwise permitted by the
licensing agreements)."
(Id.¶ 12.)
100. According to the AT&T representatives involved with UNIX System V licensing,
a number of AT&T's licensees in fact requested clarification regarding the original language of
Section 2.01. (See Wilson Decl. ¶ 17; Ex. 34 at 58:22-59:13, Frasure Decl. ¶ 17; Ex. 35 at
45:14-46:5, 60:18-62:11, 190:12-23; DeFazio Decl. ¶ 18; Kistenberg Decl. ¶ 13; Vuksanovich
Decl. ¶ 15.) AT&T always provided the same response (both orally and in writing) whenever
asked—that AT&T's UNIX System V licensees owned their homegrown code and could use and
disclose such code as they wished. (See id.)
101. As Mr. Frasure described it at his deposition:
"We explained to [our licensees] verbally, and if required in writing, that
we did not own, tried to clarify that we did not own the source code that
they generated themselves. We had no interest in that."
(Ex. 35 at 46:2-5.)
"Well, there was just questions that would pretty much on a regular basis
come up about the ownership of the derivative works or modifications,
and what we were trying to do was to just further define that and to
ensure the licensees that AT&T was not trying to take ownership in any
of the work that they put in to providing their derivative works of Unix
System V."
(Id. at 190:16-23.)
102. IBM was one of AT&T's licensees that raised such concerns. (See Wilson Decl. ¶
19; Frasure Decl. ¶ 18; DeFazio Decl. ¶ 18; Vuksanovich Decl. ¶¶ 13, 16.)
103. Mr. McDonough relates that IBM specifically requested clarification from AT&T
regarding the interpretation of Section 2.01. (McDonough Decl. ¶¶ 13-14; see also Cronan Decl.
¶¶ 13-17; Mobley Decl. ¶¶ 10-12.)
104. Mr. McDonough states in his declaration that "IBM wanted the agreements to be
clarified so that there would be no question that IBM, as a licensee, not AT&T Technologies,
would own and control source code developed by IBM or provided to IBM by a third party".
(McDonough Decl. ¶ 13; see also Cronan Decl. ¶¶ 13-17; Mobley Decl. ¶¶ 10-12.) In response,
according to Mr. McDonough, AT&T informed IBM that it "understood IBM's desire to retain
ownership and control of source code and products prepared by or for IBM, and also that, in any
event, that was what AT&T already intended and understood the language in the standard AT&T
Software Agreement to mean". (McDonough Decl. ¶ 13; see also Cronan Decl. ¶¶ 13-17;
Mobley Decl. ¶¶ 10-12.)
105. Mr. Vuksanovich similarly recalled that "during our negotiations IBM specifically
wanted to make sure that IBM, and not AT&T, would own and control code that was developed
by or for IBM, even if that code was mixed with AT&T's UNIX System V code in a product".
(Vuksanovich Decl. ¶ 13.)
106. As IBM "was particularly interested in clarifying that it owned the code that it
developed, even if it was meshed with UNIX System V", AT&T provided written clarification to
IBM in the Side Letter. (Vuksanovich Decl. ¶ 16.) As Mr. Vuksanovich explains:
"This clarification did not, however, represent a substantive change to
the standard software agreement. We were only trying to make more
clear what we thought our standard software agreement meant in the first
place. AT&T never intended to assert ownership or control over IBM's
modifications or derivative works, except to the extent of the UNIX
System V source code included in such modifications or derivative
works."
(Id.)
107. Mr. Wilson and Mr. Frasure concur that the Side Letter was intended precisely to
confirm the understanding between AT&T and IBM that the IBM Software Agreement did not
place any restrictions on IBM's original code. (See Wilson Decl. ¶¶ 19-20; Ex. 34 at 62:13-
65:17; Frasure Decl. ¶ 18; Ex. 35 at 62:12-64:19; see also DeFazio Decl. ¶¶ 18-19.)
108. Like Mr. Vuksanovich, both Mr. Wilson and Mr. Frasure also emphasize that the
clarification provided to IBM did not represent a change to the standard Software Agreement, but
merely confirmed what AT&T intended all along. (See Frasure Decl. ¶ 18; Ex. 35 at 64:8-21;
Wilson Decl. ¶ 20; Ex. 34 at 64:23-65:17; see also DeFazio Decl. ¶¶ 18-19.)
109. Mr. Frasure states:
"This clarification (and those like it that we provided to other licensees)
did not represent a change to the standard software agreement. It merely
spelled out what AT&T Technologies had always intended—that AT&T
Technologies did not assert any right to control the use and disclosure of
modifications and derivative works prepared by its licensees, except to
the extent of the licensed UNIX System V source code included in such
modifications and derivative works."
(Frasure Decl. ¶ 18.)
110. Indeed, as discussed below (at ¶¶ 113-122), because so many licensees requested
clarification of the language in Section 2.01 of the standard software agreement, AT&T
ultimately decided to make revisions to Section 2.01 expressly to clarify that AT&T's Software
Agreements did not place any restrictions on a licensee's original code. (See Wilson Decl. ¶¶ 25-
27; Frasure Decl. ¶¶ 22-24; DeFazio Decl. ¶ 19; Kistenberg Decl. ¶¶ 17-21; Vuksanovich Decl.
¶¶ 20-26.) This revised language of Section 2.01 (which was intended to apply to all of AT&T's
licensees), like the language in the Side Letter, was again intended only to clarify the meaning of
the original language of Section 2.01. (See id.)
111. Regardless of whether or not a particular licensee was given a written clarification
of Section 2.01 in a side letter or in the form of a new agreement, the AT&T witnesses who were
responsible for licensing UNIX System V all state that AT&T intended Section 2.01 to mean the
same thing for all its licensees. (See Wilson Decl. ¶ 27; Frasure Decl. ¶ 24; DeFazio Decl. ¶ 20;
Kistenberg Decl. ¶ 22; Vuksanovich Decl. ¶ 27.)
112. As Mr. Wilson put it:
"Whether or not we entered into a side letter or other agreements with our
licensees to clarify the treatment of modifications and derivative works, or
altered the language of Section 2.01, AT&T's and USL's intent was
always the same. We never intended to assert ownership or control over
any portion of a modification or derivative work that was not part of the
original UNIX System V source code provided by AT&T or USL. The
licensee was free to use, copy, distribute or disclose its modifications and
derivative works, provided that it did not use, copy, distribute or disclose
any portions of the original UNIX System V source code provided by
AT&T or USL except as permitted by the license agreements."
(Wilson Decl. ¶ 27.)
113. When informed of the interpretation of the IBM and Sequent Software
Agreements that SCO is advancing in this case, the individuals from AT&T who were involved
in negotiating the agreements state unequivocally that SCO is wrong. Mr. Wilson states:
"In my view, any claim that the IBM Software Agreement and the
Sequent Software Agreement prohibit the use, export, disclosure or
transfer of any code other than UNIX System V code is clearly wrong.
Not only did we at AT&T not intend the agreements to be read that way,
but we also went out of our way to assure our licensees that that is not
what the agreements meant."
(Wilson Decl. ¶ 30.)
Mr. Frasure states:
"[SCO's] interpretation of the IBM Software Agreement and the Sequent
Software Agreement is impossible to reconcile with what I, and I believe
others at AT&T Technologies, understood our software agreements to
mean. I never suggested, or would have thought to suggest, to our
customers that the agreements precluded them from using or disclosing
their own products as they might wish, so long as they did not disclose
any UNIX System V code. Moreover, I do not believe that our
customers (particularly large ones like IBM) would have entered into
agreements that placed such restrictions on their use of code that they
developed. In fact, some, including IBM, specifically said so."
(Frasure Decl. ¶ 29.)
Mr. DeFazio states:
"[SCO's] claims are, in my view, inconsistent with the provisions of the
license agreements generally and the IBM Related Agreements and the
Sequent Related Agreements in particular. I do not believe that anyone
at AT&T, USL or Novell intended these agreements to be construed in
this way. In all cases, modifications and licensees' contributions to
derivative works are not subject to the confidentiality and other
restrictions contained in the license agreements (except for any protected
UNIX System V source code actually included therein) because they are
owned by the licensees."
(DeFazio Decl. ¶ 31.)
Mr. Kistenberg states:
"I understand that plaintiff claims that Sequent has breached its license
agreement with AT&T Technologies by improperly using, exporting,
disclosing or transferring Dynix source code, irrespective of whether
Sequent has disclosed any specific protected source code from UNIX
System V. At least as I understand the Sequent Agreements, that is
simply not consistent with what the parties intended by the agreements."
(Kistenberg Decl. ¶ 24.)
Mr. Vuksanovich states:
"I understand that plaintiff claims that IBM and Sequent have breached
their license agreement with AT&T Technologies by improperly using,
exporting, disclosing or transferring AIX and Dynix/PTX source code,
irrespective of whether IBM or Sequent has disclosed any specific
protected source code from UNIX System V. At least as I understand the
IBM Agreements and the Sequent Agreements, that is completely
inconsistent with what the parties intended and discussed during the
negotiation of the agreements."
(Vuksanovich Decl. ¶ 30.)
B. Contemporaneous Documentary Evidence.
114. Consistent with this testimony regarding the IBM and Sequent
Software Agreements, AT&T specifically communicated to all of its
UNIX System V licensees at the time, including IBM and Sequent, that
Section 2.01 of the standard software agreement should not be
construed to mean that AT&T had the right to control the use and
disclosure of any code created entirely by its licensees. (See
Wilson Decl. ¶¶ 20-21, Frasure Decl. ¶ 19; Ex. 35 at
64:22-66:3; Kistenberg Decl. ¶ 14; Vuksanovich Decl. ¶
17.)
115. In response to concerns raised by numerous of its UNIX System
V licensees, AT&T notified all licensees, through seminars hosted
by Mr. Frasure and in the April 1985 edition of AT&T's
"$ echo" newsletter, that AT&T intended to make certain
changes to the standard UNIX System V software agreement to
"clarify ownership of modifications or derivative works prepared by
a licensee" under Section 2.01. (Ex. 37 at 5 (emphasis added);
see also Ex. 35 at 64:22-66:3, 67:16-73:15.) These changes
were intended only to clarify the original meaning of Section 2.01,
not to change it. (See Wilson Decl. ¶¶ 21-23; Frasure
Decl. ¶¶19-20; Kistenberg Decl. ¶¶ 17-18;
Vuksanovich Decl. ¶¶ 21-22.)
116. Mr. Frasure testified that at the seminars he hosted, he made
clear what AT&T's original intent was with respect to Section
2.01:
"Q: And can you just explain for me what it is you told
the licensees about Section 2.01?
A: Just that we, AT&T had no intent to claim ownership to that
software code that they developed themselves. In essence that's what
we told them to the extent it did not contain Unix code. But if they
developed it, if they wrote it, it was their code. They owned
that."
(Ex. 35 at 73:6-14.)
117. The $ echo newsletter was "published by the AT&T
Software Sales and Licensing organization for licensees of UNIX System
V" and was intended "to reach all Unix System V licensees through one
defined medium" and to keep them "abreast of any product
announcements, policy changes, company business and pricing
structures". (Ex. 37; see also Ex. 34 at 66:11-69:3; Ex. 35 at
64:22-66:3, 66:20-67:5.) The guidance published in the newsletter was
intended to reach, and to apply to, all of AT&T's UNIX System V
licensees. (See Frasure Decl. ¶ 19; Ex. 35 at 64:22-66:3;
Wilson Decl. ¶ 21; Ex. 34 at 69:20-70:15; Kistenberg Decl. ¶
15; Vuksanovich Decl. ¶ 19.)
118. Subsequently, in the August 1985 edition of $ echo,
AT&T announced it had revised Section 2.01 of its standard
software agreement to include language to "assure licensees that
AT&T will claim no ownership in the software that they
developed—only the portion of the software developed by
AT&T". (Ex. 38 at 5 (emphasis added)); Ex 35 at
73:22-76:5.)
119. As clarified to better reflect this meaning, Section 2.01 of
the standard UNIX System V software agreement provided as follows:
"AT&T-IS grants to LICENSEE a personal,
nontransferable and nonexclusive right to use in the United States
each SOFTWARE PRODUCT identified in the one or more Supplements
hereto, solely for LICENSEE's own internal business purposes and
solely on or in conjunction with DESIGNATED CPUs for such SOFTWARE
PRODUCT. Such right to use includes the right to modify such SOFTWARE
PRODUCT and to prepare derivate works based on such SOFTWARE PRODUCT,
provided that any such modification or derivative work that
contains any part of a SOFTWARE PRODUCT subject to this Agreement is
treated hereunder the same as such SOFTWARE
PRODUCT. AT&T-IS claims no ownership interest in any
portion of such a modification or derivative work that is not part of
a SOFTWARE PRODUCT."
(E.g., Ex. 39 (Software Agreement Number SOFT-000302,
between AT&T Information Systems, Inc. and The Santa Cruz
Operation, dated May 6, 1987) (emphasis added); see Wilson
Decl. ¶ 25; Frasure Decl. ¶ 22; Ex. 35 at 76:6-79:12;
DeFazio Decl. ¶ 19; Kistenberg Decl. ¶¶ 19-20;
Vuksanovich Decl. ¶¶ 23-24.)
120. This revised language of Section 2.01 makes plain that
AT&T did not claim a right to control in any manner original code
created by its licensees, and is present in all standard Unix System V
licenses executed after August 1985. (See Frasure
Decl. ¶¶ 22-24; Ex. 35 at 79:1-23; Wilson Decl. ¶¶
25-27.) Mr Frasure described his understanding of the revised language
at his deposition:
"Q: . . . [W]hat is your understanding of what AT&T
intended and told its licensees Section 2.01 means?
A: It means that any source code developed by the licensee,
originated by the licensee, is the property of the licensee. They own
that source code, and AT&T makes no claim of ownership in that
source code.
Q: Was it the case then from AT&T Technologies' perspective
that the licensee could do whatever it wanted with the source code
that it developed?
. . .
A: Yes."
(Ex. 35 at 79:1-23.)
121. As Mr. Wilson and Mr. Frasure again note, however, this
revised language was intended only to clarify the original meaning of
Section 2.01, not to change it.
Mr. Wilson states:
"As we communicated at our seminars and in our newsletters
to UNIX System V licensees, this new language was intended only to
clarify the language in the original Section 2.01, not change its
meaning. My licensing group interpreted the language of the original
Section 2.01 and this revised Section 2.01 in exactly the same
way."
(Wilson Decl. ¶ 25.)
Mr. Frasure states:
"Again, as we made clear in the newsletter, the revised
language was added only to assure licensees that AT&T Technologies
did not claim any right to its licensees' original work contained in
modifications or derivatives of UNIX System V. The language did not
represent in any way a departure from the original intent of Section
2.01."
(Frasure Decl. ¶ 21; see also Kistenberg Decl. ¶
20; Vuksanovich Decl. ¶ 24.)
122. Mr. Frasure explained in particular that the revised language
of Section 2.01 had the same meaning as the original language of
Section 2.01 that appears in the IBM Software Agreement and the
Sequent Software Agreement:
"Q: Do you understand Section 2.01 as it appears in the
Santa Cruz Agreement, to mean anything different than the Section 2.01
in the IBM Agreement that we looked at earlier?
. . .
A: There is no difference in meaning between the two
paragraphs.
Q: . . . Do you believe there to be any difference in meaning
between Section 2.01 as it appears in the Santa Cruz Agreement and
Section 2.01 as it appears in the Sequent Agreement that we looked at
earlier?
. . .
A: No. There is no difference."
(Ex. 35 at 80:6-23.)
123. Moreover, this revised language was intended to apply to
all of AT&T's UNIX System V licensees, not just those
licensees that executed a new agreement containing the revised Section
2.01. (See Wilson Decl. ¶ 26; Frasure Decl. ¶ 23;
Kistenberg Decl. ¶ 21; Vuksanovich Decl. ¶ 26.) Although, as
the $ echo newsletter states, AT&T made specimen copies of
the revised software agreement available, AT&T did not require its
licensees to enter into new agreements. (See id.)
Rather, AT&T "intended for all our UNIX System V licensees to
receive the benefit of the changes and clarifications we outlined at
our seminars and in the newsletter". (Wilson Decl. ¶ 26;
see also Frasure Decl. ¶ 23; Kistenberg Decl. ¶ 21;
Vuksanovich Decl. ¶ 26.)
124. Mr. Frasure elaborated at his deposition:
"A: We told [UNIX System V licensees] specimen copies
were available if, if my account executives [or] licensing people were
told that if a licensee called, that they could receive a specimen
copy and it would apply, the language in the new specimen copy. They,
that in effect would be the new language of their agreement, although
they did not have to sign that.
Some licensees, for whatever reason, wanted to sign a new
agreement, and we upgraded their agreement to the new language at no
charge. It was just a matter of signing the new agreement, providing
that to them.
But we wanted everyone to know what the changes were and they would
have the benefit of that language.
Q: Did a licensee have to execute a new agreement to get the
benefit of the changes?
. . .
A: No."
(Ex. 35 at 82:20-83:17.)
125.
REDACTED
126.
REDACTED
VIII. Novell's Waiver of Any Purported Breaches of Contract By
IBM and Sequent
127. After this lawsuit was commenced, Novell sent a series of
letters to SCO that explicitly waived the purported breaches of
contract SCO has asserted IBM committed. (See Exs. 41, 42, 43
and 44.)
128. On October 7, 2003, in a letter from Joseph A. LaSala, Jr. to
Ryan Tibbitts, Novell directed SCO to waive any purported right to
assert a breach of the IBM Software Agreement based on IBM's use or
disclosure of code that does not contain any UNIX System V source code
(Ex. 41.) The letter states:
"[P]ursuant to Section 4.16(b) of the Asset Purchase
Agreement, Novell hereby directs SCO to waive any purported right SCO
may claim to require IBM to treat IBM Code itself as subject to the
confidentiality obligations or use restrictions of the Agreements.
Novell directs SCO to take this action by noon, MST, on October 10,
2003, and to notify Novell that it has done so by that
time."
(Id.)
129. In the letter, Novell informed SCO that its position that
IBM's own homegrown code "must be maintained as confidential and
subject to use restrictions is contrary to the agreements between AT&T
and IBM, including Amendment X, to which Novell is a
party". (Ex. 41.)
130. According to Novell, the agreements between AT&T and IBM
provide "a straightforward allocation of rights":
"(1) AT&T retained ownership of its code from the
Software Products ('AT&T Code'), and the Agreements' restrictions
on confidentiality and use apply to the AT&T Code, whether in its
original form or as incorporated in a modification or derivative work,
but (2) IBM retained ownership of its own code, and the Agreements'
restrictions on confidentiality and use do not apply to that code so
long as it does not embody any AT&T Code".
(Ex. 41.) Novell concluded that any other interpretation "would
defy logic as well as the intent of the parties". (Id.)
131. After SCO failed to follow Novell's instruction, on October
10, 2003, Novell expressly waived any purported right of SCO's to
assert a breach of the IBM Software Agreement based on IBM's use or
disclosure of code that does not contain any UNIX System V source
code. (Ex. 42.) Novell states in its letter to SCO:
"Accordingly, pursuant to Section 4.16(b) of the Asset
Purchase Agreement, Novell, on behalf of The SCO Group, hereby waives
any purported right SCO may claim to require IBM to treat IBM Code,
that is code developed by IBM, or licensed by IBM from a third party,
which IBM incorporated into AIX but which itself does not contain
proprietary UNIX code supplied by AT&T under the license
agreements between AT&T and IBM, itself as subject to the
confidentiality obligations or use restrictions of the
Agreements."
(Id.)
132. Additionally, on February 6, 2004, in a letter from
Mr. LaSala to Mr. Tibbitts, Novell further directed SCO to waive any
purported rights to assert a breach of the Sequent Software Agreement
based on IBM's use or disclosure of code that does not contain any
UNIX System V source code (Ex. 43.) The letter states:
"[P]ursuant to Section 4.16(b) of the Asset Purchase
Agreement, Novell hereby directs SCO to waive any purported right SCO
may claim to require Sequent (or IBM as its successor) to treat
Sequent Code as subject to the confidentiality obligations or use
restrictions of Sequent's SVRX license.
Novell directs SCO to take this action by noon, MDT, on February
11, 2004, and to notify Novell that it has done so by that
time."
(Id.)
133. In the letter, Novell reiterated that SCO's reliance on
Section 2.01 of the Software Agreement was misplaced, and stated that
"SCO's interpretation of section 2.01 is plainly contrary to the
position taken by AT&T, as author of and party to the SVRX
licenses". (Ex. 43.)
134. After SCO failed to follow Novell's instruction, on February
11, 2004, Novell expressly waived any purported right of SCO's to
assert a breach of the Sequent Software Agreement based on IBM's use
or disclosure of code that does not contain any UNIX System V source
code. (Ex. 44.) Novell states in its letter to SCO:
"Accordingly, pursuant to Section 4.16(b) of the Asset
Purchase Agreement, Novell, on behalf of The SCO Group, hereby waives
any purported right SCO may claim to require Sequent (or IBM as its
successor) to treat Sequent Code as subject to the confidentiality
obligations or use restrictions of Sequent's SVRX
license."
(Id.)
135. Novell also waived any purported right of SCO to terminate the
IBM Sublicensing Agreement. (See Exs. 45, 46.)
136. On June 9, 2003, in a letter from Jack L. Messman to Darl
McBride, Novell informed SCO that under the terms of Amendment X, SCO
did not have the right to terminate any of IBM's rights under the
Sublicensing Agreement to distribute its AIX software program
(Ex. 45.) The letter states:
"Pursuant to Amendment No. X, however, Novell and SCO
granted IBM the 'irrevocable, fully paid-up, perpetual right' to
exercise all of the rights under the IBM SVRX Licenses that IBM then
held. IBM paid $10,125,000 for the rights under Amendment
No. X. Novell believes, therefore, that SCO has no right to terminate
IBM's SVRX Licenses, and that it is inappropriate, at best, for SCO to
be threatening to do so."
(Id.)
137. Novell further directed SCO to waive any purported right under
its SVRX Licenses with IBM to terminate IBM's right to distribute AIX
under the IBM Sublicensing Agreement:
"[P]ursuant to Section 4.16(b) of the Asset Purchase
Agreement, Novell hereby directs SCO to waive any purported right SCO
may claim to terminate IBM's SVRX Licenses enumerated in Amendment X
or to revoke any rights thereunder, including any purported rights to
terminate asserted in SCO's letter of March 6, 2003 to IBM. Novell
directs SCO to take this action by noon, MDT, June 12, 2003, and to
notify Novell that it has done so by that time."
(Id.)
138. After SCO failed to follow Novell's instruction, on June 12,
2003, Novell expressly waived any purported right of SCO's to
terminate IBM's rights under the IBM Sublicensing Agreement. (Ex. 46.)
Novell states in its letter to SCO:
"Accordingly, pursuant to Section 4.16(b) of the Asset
Purchase Agreement, Novell, on behalf of The SCO Group, hereby waives
any purported right SCO may claim to terminate IBM's SVRX Licenses
enumerated in Amendment X or to revoke any right thereunder, including
any purported rights to terminate asserted in SCO's letter of March 6
2003 to IBM."
(Id.)
IX. SCO Disclosed The Code It Claims Is At Issue
139. Prior to its filing this lawsuit, SCO's business included the
distribution of the Linux operating system, the development and
marketing of software based on Linux, and the provision of
Linux-related services to customers. (Ex. 2 ¶31; Ex. 9 at
5-9.)
140. In 2002, SCO formed the UnitedLinux partnership with three
other Linux distributors to streamline Linux development and
certification around a global, uniform distribution of Linux designed
for business. (Ex. 47 (5/30/02 SCO Press Release).)
141. UnitedLinux released its first Linux distribution,
"UnitedLinux Version 1.0" in November 2002. (Ex. 48 (11/19/02
UnitedLinux press release).) UnitedLinux Version 1.0 was marketed and
sold by each of the partners in UnitedLinux under its own brand name
(See id.)
142. SCO's release of UnitedLinux 1.0 was called "SCO Linux
4". (Ex. 49 (11/19/02 SCO press release).)
143. Just two months before SCO filed its Complaint against IBM,
UnitedLinux signed IBM as a technology partner (Ex. 50 (1/14/03
UnitedLinux press release).) IBM's relationship with UnitedLinux
included, among other things, joint marketing activities for
UnitedLinux products. (See id.)
144. As SCO admits, its distributions of Linux, including its
UnitedLinux distribution, contain code that SCO claims IBM improperly
contributed to Linux. (See Ex. 27 at 43.) In its Revised
Response to IBM's interrogatories, SCO stated that the code it
identified "is included in any product that contains the Linux kernel
2.4 and above, which is sold or distributed by hundreds of entities
around the world", including by SCO. (Id.) In particular, SCO
conceded that its "SCO Linux Server 4.0" products contain such
code. (Id.)
145. Although SCO fails to identify them in its interrogatory
responses, SCO's earlier Linux distributions also contain code SCO
claims IBM improperly contributed to Linux. (See Exs. 51, 52.)
Among other products, SCO's "OpenLinux Server 3.1.1" and "OpenLinux
Workstation 3.1.1" products, which were released in January 2002, both
include the Linux 2.4 kernel. (See Ex. 51 (1/24/02 Product
Announcement for OpenLinux Server 3.1.1) at 2; Ex. 52 (1/24/02 Product
Announcement for OpenLinux Workstation 3.1.1) at 2; Ex. 53 (30(b)(6)
Deposition of Erik W. Hughes) at 16:18-19:18.)
146. In fact, SCO specifically advertised to its customers that its
distributions of Linux included some of the very technology it now
complains IBM should not have contributed to Linux. (See
Exs. 51, 52, 54, 55, 56.)
147. For example, in its product announcements for OpenLinux Server
3.1.1 and OpenLinux Workstation 3.1.1, SCO specifically advertised
that the products included new features such as "better SMP scaling up
to 32 processors" and "journaling file system support". (Ex. 51 at 2;
Ex. 52 at 2.)
148. Similarly, in its product announcement for "SCO Linux Server
4.0", which was based on UnitedLinux Version 1.0, SCO noted that:
"The core of SCO Linux Server 4.0 is the 2.4.19 Linux
kernel. New features include broadened USB support, Logical Volume
Manager, improved journaling file system support, POSIX-ACL'S,
new O(1) schedule (improves SMP support), Asynchronous I/O,
Enterprise Volume Management Systems (EVMS), PCI Hot plug
support on supported hardware, NUMA support and many other performance
enhancing capabilities".
(Ex. 54 (Product Announcement) at SCO1270430 (emphasis added).)
149. Likewise, SCO's Technical Overview of SCO Linux 4.0 emphasized
that its product included "POSIX Asynchronous I/O",
"EVMS", and "JFS (Journaling File System Developed by
IBM)". (Ex. 55 (Technical Overview) at SCO1307698-701 (emphasis
added).)
150. Although SCO claims to have "discontinued" distributing any
products containing the source code it claims IBM should not have
disclosed, it continued to do so after it filed this
lawsuit. (See Exs. 53 at 92:1-23; 56, 57, 58, 59.)
151. For example, SCO released its "SCO Linux Server 4.0 for the
Itanium Processor Family" distribution on April 14, 2003, after
SCO filed its original Complaint. (See Ex. 56 (Product
Announcement).) In the product announcement, SCO touted the new
features of this release, including "improved journaling file system
support", "Asynchronous I/O" and "Enterprise Volume Management Systems
(EVMS)". (Id. at SCO1269793.)
152.
REDACTED
153. Moreover, SCO made available to the public and continues to
make available (as recently as August 4, 2004) the Linux 2.4 kernel
for download from its website. (See Bennett
Decl. ¶¶4-5, 7.) The version of Linux available from SCO's
website includes code SCO claims IBM disclosed in violation of its
contracts. (See Ex. 27 at 43; Bennett Decl. ¶5.)
154. SCO distributed source code for the Linux 2.4 kernel, which is
contained in SCO's OpenLinux Server 3.1.1, OpenLinux Workstation and
Linux Server 4.0 products, under the terms of the General Public
License ("GPL"). (Ex. 60; Ex. 53 at 75:9-12.) The terms of the GPL
permit licensees freely to use, copy, distribute and modify whatever
code is provided thereunder. (Ex. 60.)
Summary Judgment Standard
Summary judgment should be granted when "the pleadings,
depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file,
together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine
issue of fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a
matter of law."
In re Grandote Country Club Co., 252 F.3d 1146, 1149 (10th
Cir. 2001); see also Banks v. Rite Aid Corp., No. 1:98CV115K,
2001 WL 1806857 at *1 (D. Utah Mar. 15, 2001) (attached hereto as
Exhibit A).
Although the Court
must view the record in the light most favorable to the non-moving
party, the non-moving party cannot rely on unsupported conclusory
allegations to create a genuine issue of fact. See In re Grandote,
252 F.3d at 1149. "To withstand summary judgment, the nonmoving
party 'must come forward with specific facts showing that there is a
genuine issue for trial'". Id. at 1150 (quoting
Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574,
587 (1986)).
Argument
I. IBM's UNIX SYSTEM V LICENSES DO NOT, AS A MATTER OF LAW,
RESTRICT IBM FROM DISCLOSING ITS OWN HOMEGROWN CODE.
As stated above (at ¶¶ 49-65), SCO asserts four
causes of action for breach of contract (Counts 1-4) against
IBM. SCO's claims concern a set of nearly twenty-year-old licensing
agreements for the UNIX System V operating system — the IBM
Software Agreement, the IBM Sublicensing Agreement — and seek
redress for a laundry list of alleged breaches. (¶¶ 49-51,
64.) At bottom, however, SCO's contract claims rest entirely upon its
(unfounded) charge that IBM improperly contributed certain source code
to Linux in violation of the two Software Agreements.
By their terms, the Software Agreements limit the circumstances
under which IBM can use and disclose, and thus contribute to Linux,
source code from the "SOFTWARE PRODUCT" that IBM licensed from
AT&T — UNIX System V. (¶¶ 51, 55.) According to
SCO's interpretation, however, the Software Agreements go even further
and also limit the circumstances under which IBM can use and disclose
any source code from its own AIX and Dynix programs, because those
programs are alleged to be derived from UNIX System V. (¶¶
62-63.)
It is undisputed that IBM has not contributed to Linux any
source code from the "SOFTWARE PRODUCT" IBM licensed from AT&T
nearly twenty years ago — UNIX System V. (¶¶ 31-48, 58
(discussing SCO's failure and refusal to identify any UNIX System V
code IBM is alleged to have misused).) Moreover, although SCO alleges
that IBM has taken certain code from AIX and Dynix and improperly
contributed it to Linux, SCO does not dispute that IBM has not
contributed its entire AIX and Dynix programs to
Linux. (¶¶ 42-43, 48.) Thus, SCO's claims for breach of
contract depend entirely upon whether the IBM and Sequent Software
Agreements in fact preclude IBM from contributing to Linux original
code that can be found in AIX or Dynix, but is separate from (and does
not include) any UNIX System V source code. (¶¶62-63)
As discussed below, the IBM and Sequent Software Agreements do not,
as a matter of law, preclude IBM from contributing its or Sequent's
homegrown code to Linux. The plain language of the agreements, the
extrinsic evidence of the meaning of the agreements and general
principles of public policy support only one conclusion — that
IBM owns and is free to disclose any source code that it or Sequent
creates, so long as that code does not contain UNIX System V
code. Accordingly, partial summary judgment should be entered in favor
of IBM on SCO's contract claims.
A.The IBM And Sequent Software Agreements, By Their Plain And
Unambiguous Terms, Do Not Pertain To The Code Allegedly Contributed By
IBM to Linux.
The IBM and Sequent Software Agreements, which (as stated) are the
cornerstone of SCO's contract case, are governed by New York
law. (¶ 66.) Under New York law, when a contract's
language is "clear, unequivocal and unambiguous, the contract is to be
interpreted by its own language". R/S Assoc. v. New York Job
Dev. Auth., 98 N.Y.2d 29, 32 (N.Y. 2002). It is the Court's role,
as a matter of law, to interpret unambiguous contracts. See
American Express Bank Ltd. v. Uniroyal, Inc., 562 N.Y.S.2d 613,
614 (N.Y. App. Div. 1990); Rehberger v. Richtberg, 744
N.Y.S.2d 477, 478 (N.Y. App. Div. 2002).
Based upon the plain
language of the IBM and Sequent Software Agreements, IBM is entitled
to summary judgment as a matter of law on SCO's contract claims.
There is no genuine issue of material fact that the agreements do not
preclude IBM from contributing to Linux (or otherwise disclosing)
source code that may be found in AIX or Dynix but is separate from
(and does not include) any UNIX System V source code.
The provisions of the
IBM and Sequent Software Agreements that IBM is alleged to have
breached pertain to "SOFTWARE PRODUCT[S]". (¶ 51.)
Specifically:
- Section 2.01 grants licensees a "personal,
nontransferable and nonexclusive right to use in the
United States each SOFTWARE PRODUCT identified in the
one or more Supplements hereto, solely for LICENSEE's
own internal business purposes . . . ."
- Section 2.05 provides: "No right is granted by
this Agreement for the use of SOFTWARE PRODUCTS
directly for others, or for any use of SOFTWARE
PRODUCTS by others."
- Section 4.01 provides: "LICENSEE agrees that it
will not, without the prior written consent of
AT&T, export, directly or indirectly, SOFTWARE
PRODUCTS covered by this Agreement to any country
outside of the United States."
- Section 7.06(a) provides: "LICENSEE agrees
that it shall hold all parts of the SOFTWARE PRODUCTS
subject to this Agreement in confidence for
AT&T."
- Section 7.10 provides: "Except as provided in
Section 7.06(b), nothing in this Agreement grants to
LICENSEE the right to sell, lease or otherwise
transfer or dispose of a SOFTWARE PRODUCT in whole or
in part."
(Exs. 11 & 12.)
The term "SOFTWARE PRODUCT" as defined in the IBM and Sequent
Software Agreements pertains only to the UNIX System V computer
program (and certain related materials, such as product documentation,
that are identified in the Schedules attached to the
agreements). (¶¶ 56-57.) It is undisputed that IBM has not
breached any of the above provisions as they relate to a SOFTWARE
PRODUCT. As stated above, SCO has not identified (and has refused to
identify) any UNIX System V code or related materials that IBM has
improperly used, exported, or disclosed in violation of Sections 2.01,
2.05, 4.01, 7.06(a) and 7.10. (¶¶ 31-48, 58.) In response to
IBM's interrogatories asking SCO to identify with specificity the
lines of code SCO claimed IBM misused in violation of its contracts,
SCO did not identify a single line of UNIX System V code,
(¶¶ 31-35.) Even after IBM moved to compel complete
responses to IBM's interrogatories, resulting in two court orders
directing SCO to "identify and state with specificity the source
code(s) that SCO is claiming form the basis of their action against
IBM", SCO still failed to identify any UNIX System V
code. (¶¶ 36-48.) Indeed, the only UNIX System V code SCO
has identified to date is UNIX System V code SCO claims to have
discovered in AIX and Dynix, but which SCO does not assert IBM
has misused in violation of its licenses. (¶¶ 7, 61.)
Instead, to support
its claim that IBM breached the IBM and Sequent Software Agreements,
SCO appears to rely on a single sentence in Section 2.01 of the
agreements relating to certain "resulting materials". As
originally drafted, Section 2.01 grants licensees "the right to
modify such SOFTWARE PRODUCT and to prepare derivative works based on
such SOFTWARE PRODUCT, provided the resulting materials are treated
hereunder as part of the original SOFTWARE PRODUCT". (Ex. 10 §
2.01; Ex. 11 § 2.01.) Based on this language, SCO claims that
all of the tens of millions of lines of code contained in
IBM's AIX and Dynix programs must be treated like AT&T's UNIX
System V program, whether or not portions of that code, standing
alone, consist of UNIX System V code or could be considered
modifications or derivative works based on UNIX System V. (¶¶
62-63.)
SCO's interpretation
of the IBM and Sequent Software Agreements is not supported by the
plain language of Section 2.01 as it was originally drafted. Under
even the most expansive reading of the original language of Section
2.01, the "resulting materials" cannot be construed to include
code that is itself neither a modification of UNIX System V code nor
a derivative work of UNIX System V code. The plain language of
Section 2.01 precludes such an interpretation,
SCO's focus on IBM's
AIX and Dynix programs is therefore misguided. SCO appears to contend
that both AIX and Dynix should be considered "resulting materials",
because they are (allegedly) modifications or derivative works based
on UNIX System V. Whether AIX and Dynix as a whole (each of
which consists of tens of millions of lines of source code) are
modifications or derivative works of UNIX System V, and are
themselves subject to the use and disclosure restrictions in the
Software Agreements, is irrelevant. SCO does not — because
it cannot — allege that IBM has contributed its entire AIX
operating system (which contains approximately 63 million lines of
code) and its entire Dynix operating system (which contains
approximately 30 million lines of code) to Linux. (¶¶ 6,
48.) Instead, as set forth above (at ¶¶ 42-43), SCO's case
rests solely on IBM's alleged misuse of some comparatively small
amount of code (less than 27,000 lines) purportedly contained in AIX
and Dynix for technologies such as Read Copy Update ("RCU"),
Journaling File System ("JFS"), Enterprise Volume Management
System ("EVMS") and asynchronous input/output ("AIO"). SCO's
contract claims fail for this reason alone. Even under a broad
reading of the original language of Section 2.01 of the agreements,
SCO must show that IBM misused code that can be considered a
modification or a derivative work based on UNIX System V code. SCO,
however, fails to offer any evidence that IBM's purported
contributions to Linux (such as RCU, JFS, EVMS and AIO) — extracted
from AIX and Dynix and standing alone — are modifications or
derivative works of any code in UNIX System V. (¶¶ 31-48,
58-60.)
When SCO at last purported to identify the code it claims IBM
improperly contributed to Linux — only after IBM had filed two
motions to compel seeking such information, and Judge Wells had
ordered SCO to provide it — SCO made no attempt to show that such
code was a modification or a derivative work of UNIX System V. (¶¶
42-43.) Informed by IBM of this deficiency, SCO flatly refused to
supplement its responses, arguing that "IBM keeps insisting on
something that is not part of SCO's claims, so it should come as no
surprise that files or lines of code in System V have not been
identified". (¶¶ 44-45.) Indeed, although Judge Wells
issued a second order directing SCO specifically "to provide and
identify all specific lines of code from UNIX System V from which
IBM's contributions from AIX or Dynix are alleged to be derived",
SCO still fails to offer any evidence that IBM's alleged
contributions from AIX and Dynix are modifications or derivative
works of any code in UNIX System V. (¶¶ 46-48.)
In addition, Dr.
Randall Davis of MIT analyzed the specific lines of code IBM is
alleged to have improperly contributed to Linux from AIX and Dynix
and concluded that such code does not contain any portion of source
code from UNIX System V and is not substantially similar to any
source code in UNIX System V. (See Davis Decl. ¶ 45.)
Accordingly, Dr. Davis concluded that such lines of IBM code are
neither modifications nor derivative works of UNIX System V, as is
explained in more detail in his declaration. (See Davis Decl.)
Thus, regardless of whether they can be (or were once) found within
AIX or Dynix, IBM's alleged contributions to Linux cannot themselves
be considered modifications or derivative works based on UNIX System
V, and are not subject to any of the provisions of the IBM and
Sequent Software Agreements.
Moreover, SCO's
argument in any case ignores the plain language of the full
agreements that IBM entered into with AT&T concerning UNIX System
V and of which AT&T intended for both IBM and Sequent to have the
benefit. AT&T specifically agreed in its Side Letter with IBM
that, under Section 2.01, AT&T intended only to assert ownership
over the "portion or portions of SOFTWARE PRODUCTS included in
any such modification or derivative work" prepared by or for
IBM. (¶ 52 (emphasis added).)
The language of the Side Letter cannot be any more clear that AT&T
only intended to restrict IBM's use of the UNIX System V code that
was included in IBM's modifications and derivative works based
on UNIX System V. AT&T plainly, therefore, did not intend to
restrict IBM's use of the portions of IBM's modifications and
derivative works that did not include UNIX System V code.
Also, as discussed
further below (at Section I.B.2), AT&T represented to all of its
licensees, including both IBM and Sequent, that they were to have the
benefit of the revised language in Section 2.01, which was intended
merely to clarify Section 2.01's original meaning.
(¶¶
114-124.) This clarified language provided:
"AT&T-IS grants
to LICENSEE a personal, nontransferable and nonexclusive right to use
in the United States each SOFTWARE PRODUCT identified in the one or
more Supplements hereto, solely for LICENSEE's own internal business
purposes and solely on or in conjunction with DESIGNATED CPUs for
such SOFTWARE PRODUCT. Such right to use includes the right to modify
such SOFTWARE PRODUCT and to prepare derivate works based on such
SOFTWARE PRODUCT, provided that any such modification or
derivative work that contains any part of a SOFTWARE PRODUCT subject
to this Agreement is treated hereunder the same as such SOFTWARE
PRODUCT. AT&T-IS claims no ownership interest in any portion of
such a modification or derivative work that is not part of a SOFTWARE
PRODUCT."
(Ex. 39 (emphasis
added).) As with the Side Letter, this clarified version of Section
2.01 makes plain that AT&T did not intend to assert any rights to
"any portion" of IBM's or Sequent's modifications or derivative
works that is not part of the UNIX System V code licensed from AT&T.
The plain and
unambiguous language of IBM's and Sequent's agreements with AT&T
therefore establishes that the use and disclosure restrictions of
Sections 2.01, 2.05, 4.01, 7.06(a) and 7.10 of the IBM and Sequent
Software Agreements do not apply to original code created by
IBM and Sequent. To the contrary, AT&T expressly disclaimed
any purported right to control the use and disclosure of IBM's or
Sequent's homegrown code.
REDACTED
Putting the instant case in these exact terms, the plain language
of IBM's and Sequent's agreements with AT&T can only be
interpreted to mean that IBM and Sequent own the D-E-F code they
developed, even if such code is contained within programs such as AIX
(A-B-C-D-E-F) or Dynix (A-D-B-E-C-F), and are free to use and disclose
D-E-F as they choose, so long as they do not misuse or disclose A-B-C,
the UNIX System V code. (Given the actual proportion of the code, the
alleged AT&T code in AIX and Dynix (which is less than a hundred
thousand lines of code according to SCO) is better represented a A,
and AIX and Dynix code (each of which contain tens of millions of
lines of code) is better represented as
B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-J-K-L-M-O-P-Q-R-S-T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z-AA-BB-CC-DD-EE-FF, GG,
HH, II, JJ, KK, LL, MM, NN, OO, PP, QQ, RR, SS, TT, UU, VV, WW, XX,
YY, ZZ, etc., etc.).)
As stated above (at ¶
31-48, 58-63), SCO provides no evidence that the code IBM is alleged
to have improperly contributed to Linux from AIX and Dynix — which
consists of code for various technologies developed by IBM, such as
RCU, JFS, EVMS and AIO — contains any UNIX System V code.
Therefore, such code is not subject to any restrictions under the IBM
and Sequent Software Agreements, and SCO's contract claims fail as a
matter of law.
B. In Any Event, All Of The Relevant Testimonial And
Documentary Evidence Supports The Conclusion That The Software
Agreements Do Not Pertain To IBM's Original Code.
Even if the Court
finds the IBM and Sequent Software Agreements to be ambiguous,
however, SCO's claims still fail as a matter of law. The relevant
admissible extrinsic evidence regarding the proper interpretation of
the Software Agreements supports the view that the SOFTWARE PRODUCT
subject to the use and disclosure restrictions in the agreements
includes only UNIX System V and those portions of any modifications
or derivative works of UNIX System V that consist of UNIX System V
source code. (¶¶ 78-124.) In such a case, "where [the]
evidence so clearly weighs in one direction that there is no genuine
issue of material fact left", summary judgment is appropriate.
Moncrief v. Williston Basin Interstate Pipeline Co., 174 F.3d
1150, 1173 (10th Cir. 1999).
1. The Testimonial Evidence
As an initial matter,
each of the individuals who executed the IBM and Sequent Software
Agreements has offered sworn testimony that the term "resulting
materials" in Section 2.01 was intended to refer only to the UNIX
System V code contained within any modifications or derivative works
prepared by IBM or Sequent:
- Otis Wilson, AT&T's Manager of Software
Sales and Marketing, who negotiated the IBM and
Sequent Software Agreements, and executed almost every
UNIX System V license entered into by AT&T,
including the Sequent Software Agreement,
states:
"As my staff and I communicated to our
licensees, this provision [Section 2.01] was only
intended to ensure that if a licensee were to create a
modification or derivative work based on UNIX System
V, any material portion of the original UNIX System V
source code provided by AT&T or USL that was
included in the modification or derivative work would
remain subject to the confidentiality and other
restrictions of the software agreement. As we
understood Section 2.01, any source code developed by
or for a licensee and included in a modification or a
derivative work would not constitute 'resulting
materials' to be treated as part of the original
software product, except for any material proprietary
UNIX System V source code provided by AT&T or USL
and included therein." (Wilson Decl. ¶
14.)
Indeed, Mr. Wilson states that he "do[es]
not believe that our licensees would have been willing
to enter into the software agreement if they
understood Section 2.01 to grant AT&T or USL the
right to own or control source code developed by the
licensee or provided to the licensee by a third
party". (Id. ¶ 16.) Mr. Wilson, in fact,
was of the view at the time "that we could not claim
any rights to non-UNIX System V code source
. . . without raising serious antitrust
issues". (Id. ¶ 18.)
Mr. Wilson further states, plainly and
unequivocally that:
"In my view, any claim that the IBM Software
Agreement and the Sequent Software Agreement prohibit
the use, export, disclosure or transfer of any code
other than UNIX System V code is clearly wrong.
Not only did we at AT&T not intend the agreements
to be read that way, but we also went out of our way
to assure our licensees that that is not what the
agreements meant." (Wilson Decl. ¶ 30 (emphasis
added).)
- David Frasure, the AT&T Sales Manager who
negotiated the IBM and Sequent Software Agreements,
and signed the IBM Software Agreement on Mr. Wilson's
behalf, states:
"As we assured our licensees,
this language [in Section 2.01] does not, and was
never intended to, give AT&T Technologies the
right to assert ownership or control over
modifications or derivative works prepared by its
licensees, except to the extent of the licensed UNIX
System V source code that was included in such
modifications or derivative works. The term 'resulting
materials' in the context of the software agreements
was intended only to mean those portions of a
licensee's modifications or derivative works that
included the licensed UNIX System V source code."
(Frasure Decl. ¶ 14.)
He further states:
"[SCO's] interpretation of the IBM Software
Agreement and the Sequent Software Agreement
is impossible to reconcile with what I, and I
believe others at AT&T Technologies, understood
our software agreements to mean. I never suggested,
or would have thought to suggest, to our customers
that the agreements precluded them from using or
disclosing their own products as they might wish, so
long as they did not disclose any UNIX System V code."
(Id. ¶ 29 (emphasis added).)
- Richard McDonough, Division Counsel for IBM's
System Products Division, who signed the IBM Software
Agreement on IBM's behalf, states:
"As I understood the [agreements] between IBM and
AT&T Technologies, and as the parties intended
those agreements to mean, they did not seek to impose
any limitations on the materials separately owned or
developed by IBM or AT&T Technologies,
respectively. IBM was free to use, copy, distribute,
or disclose any portion of a modification or
derivative work that was not part of a licensed
software product provided by AT&T Technologies."
(McDonough Decl. ¶ 15.)
He further states:
"There is absolutely no way that IBM would have
entered into an agreement with AT&T giving it the
right to control IBM code merely because that code was
or had once been associated with AT&T code in an
IBM product. Never would we have knowingly agreed
to a provision that gave AT&T the right to control
what IBM did with its own code (or for that matter
the code of third parties)." (Id. ¶ 18
(emphasis added).)
- David Rodgers, Sequent's Vice President of
Engineering, who signed the Sequent Software Agreement
on behalf of Sequent, likewise states that he did not
understand Section 2.01 "to give AT&T Technologies
the right to assert ownership or control over
modifications or derivative works prepared by Sequent,
except to the extent that the licensed Unix software
product was included in such modifications or
derivative works". (Rodgers Decl. ¶ 7.)
In fact, Mr. Rodgers further
states that he "would never have signed an
agreement that would grant ownership or control to
AT&T Technologies over modifications or derivative
works prepared by Sequent to the extent those
modifications or derivative works contained no part of
the Unix software product licensed from AT&T
Technologies". (Id. (emphasis added).)
Moreover, other individuals who were responsible for the
negotiation of the IBM and Sequent Software Agreements, on
both sides, hold the same view of the IBM and Sequent Software
Agreements:
- Michael DeFazio,
the AT&T executive with overall responsibility for the
licensing of UNIX System V, states:
"The agreements did not (and do not) give AT&T,
USL, Novell or any of their successors or assigns the
right to assert ownership or control over
modifications and derivative works prepared by its
licensees, except to the extent of the original UNIX
System V source code included in such modifications
and derivative works. . . . I do not believe that our
licensees would have been willing to enter into the
software agreement if they understood Section 2.01 to
grant AT&T, USL, Novell or their successors or
assigns the right to own or control source code
developed by or for the licensee. Modifications and
derivative works contained UNIX System V source code
and code developed by or provided to the licensee. The
UNIX System V source code contained in a modification
or derivative work continued to be owned by AT&T,
USL, Novell or their successors, while the code
developed by or provided to the licensee remained the
property of the licensee or provider to the licensee."
(DeFazio Decl. ¶ 17.)
- Steve Vuksanovich, who was the AT&T account
representative for the IBM account and participated in
the negotiation of the IBM Software Agreement,
states:
"Our standard software agreements also
gave licensees the right to modify UNIX System V
source code and to prepare derivative works based upon
the code. As I believe we intended the agreements, and
as I told our licensees, our licensees owned their
modifications and derivative works they prepared based
on UNIX System V, and were therefore permitted to do
as they wished with those modifications and derivative
works , as long as they treated those portions of the
modifications or derivative work consisting of any
UNIX System V source code the same way they treated
the UNIX System V source code that we provided to
them. I recall that during our negotiations IBM
specifically wanted to make sure that IBM, and not
AT&T, would own and control code that was
developed by or for IBM, even if that code was mixed
with AT&T's UNIX System V code in a product. I
assured IBM that we had the same understanding."
(Vuksanovich Decl. ¶ 13.)
- Ira Kistenberg, who was the AT&T account
representative for the Sequent account and
participated in the negotiation of the Sequent
Software Agreement, states:
"In my understanding, Section 2.01 did not in any
way expand the scope of the software agreement to
restrict our licensees' use, export, disclosure or
transfer of their own original code, even if such code
was contained in a modification or derivative work of
UNIX System V. The purpose of the software agreement
was to protect AT&T Technologies' UNIX System V
source code, and was not meant to claim for AT&T
Technologies our licensees' own work. It would not
make sense to me to read this Section 2.01 to place
restrictions on code that our licensees created
themselves — that code was theirs." (Kistenberg
Decl. ¶ 12.)
- Geoffrey Green, an AT&T attorney at the
time, states:
"Without disclosing any legal advice I may have
rendered . . . I can say that, as I understood
AT&T's UNIX System V licensing agreements,
AT&T did not intend to assert ownership or control
over modifications and derivative works prepared by
licensees, except to the extent of the original UNIX
System V source code included in such modifications
and derivative works. Accordingly, a licensee was free
to do with as it wished (e.g., use, copy
distribute or disclose) code developed by or for the
licensee in its modifications and derivative works,
provided that the licensee did not use, copy,
distribute or disclose any portions of the original
UNIX System V code provided by AT&T (except as
otherwise permitted by the license agreements)."
(Green Decl. ¶ 6.)
- Jeffrey Mobley, a member of IBM's corporate
Commercial and Industry Relations staff, states:
"Based on my role in negotiating the attached
AT&T Agreements, I do not believe there is any
merit to the plaintiff's contentions. IBM would never
have entered into any agreement that gave AT&T
Technologies the right to control IBM's use of source
code that IBM wrote itself, that IBM paid others to
develop, or that IBM licensed from others. That is why
we specifically discussed this issue of ownership of
our modifications and derivative works with AT&T
Technologies in detail before entering into the
AT&T Agreements. AT&T Technologies assured us
repeatedly that the AT&T Agreements were not
intended to limit IBM's freedom of action with respect
to its original source code and was merely intended to
protect AT&T Technologies' interest in its own
UNIX System V source code, and I believed them."
(Mobley Decl. ¶ 17.)
- Thomas Cronan, an attorney in IBM's System
Products Division, states:
"As I understood the AT&T Agreements between
IBM and AT&T Technologies, therefore, and as I
believe the parties intended those agreements, the
agreements impose no restrictions on IBM's use,
export, disclosure or transfer of those portions of
any modifications or derivative works of UNIX System V
that were created by or for IBM and do not contain any
UNIX System V source code.
So that there would be no confusion, we told the
AT&T Technologies' representatives with whom we
negotiated the AT&T Agreements that IBM intended
to include portions of AT&T's UNIX System V code
in products with IBM code and to make changes to the
AT&T code (such as by adding to it) and thus IBM
had to ensure that the parties agreed that IBM had the
right to do so, without forfeiting any rights
(including the right to control) to such IBM products
and code. AT&T Technologies' representatives
advised us that they did not seek to preclude such
activities. In fact, they assured us that the purpose
of the restrictions imposed by the AT&T Agreements
was to protect AT&T's original code and that IBM
could do whatever it wanted with its own code so long
as it did not use, export, disclose or transfer
AT&T's original code (except as otherwise
permitted by the AT&T Agreements)." (Cronan
Decl. ¶¶ 18-19.)
Mr. Cronan further states:
"No one involved in the negotiation of
the AT&T agreements ever suggested that the
agreements would give AT&T Technologies (or anyone
else other than IBM) the right to control IBM original
code. It seems quite clear to me, based on the
statements of its representatives, that AT&T
Technologies' concern was the protection of its
original code only. I have no doubt that the AT&T
Technologies' representatives with whom we negotiated
the AT&T Agreements understood that IBM would not
have entered into the AT&T Agreements if AT&T
Technologies had sought and insisted on the right to
control any product or code that might in the future
be associated with UNIX System V code, except insofar
as it might include UNIX System V code." (Id.
¶ 23.)
Roger Swanson, Sequent's Director of Software Engineering, states:
"I did not understand this language in Section 2.01 to give AT&T Technologies
the right to assert ownership or control over modifications or derivative works
based on UNIX System V prepared by Sequent, except for the licensed UNIX
System V code that was included in such modifications or derivative works. In
fact, I recall having discussions with AT&T Technologies at the time to clarify
that Sequent would own whatever source code we developed.
As a small company at the time, it would not have made any sense for Sequent to
have entered into an agreement that gave AT&T Technologies control over the
source code that we developed for our own software programs. I never would
have agreed to a contract that would grant AT&T Technologies rights in
Sequent's proprietary code, as that source code was the core of Sequent's software
business." (Swanson Decl. ¶¶ 10-11.)
He states further:
"As the AT&T Technologies explained the agreements to me, Sequent was free to
use, export, disclose or transfer all of the code contained in any modifications or
derivative works of UNIX System V developed by Sequent, provided that Sequent
did not improperly use, export, disclose or transfer any portion of the UNIX
System V code we were licensing from AT&T Technologies (except as otherwise
permitted by the licensing agreements)." (Id ¶ 12.)
This testimony on its own establishes that SCO's interpretation of the contract fails as a
matter of law. Under New York law, "there [can] be no more compelling evidence of intent than
the sworn testimony and affidavits of both parties to the contracts". Federal Ins. Co. v. Americas
Ins. Co., 691 N.Y.S.2d 508, 512 (N.Y. App. Div. 1999). In this case, all the parties to the
agreements concur that the IBM and Sequent Software Agreements do not restrict the use arid
disclosure of any code that IBM or Sequent created on their own.
Courts routinely find summary judgment proper when the "extrinsic evidence presented
to the court supports only one of the conflicting interpretations". United Rentals (North
America), Inc. v. Keizer, 355 F.3d 399, 410 (6th Cir. 2004); accord Goodman v. Resolution
Trust Corp., 7 F.3d 1123, 1126 (4th Cir. 1993) (noting that summary judgment is proper when
extrinsic evidence is dispositive of the interpretive issue); Farmland Indus., Inc. v. Grain Board
of Iraq, 904 F.2d 732, 736 (D.C. Cir. 1990) (noting that summary judgment is proper "if that
[extrinsic] evidence demonstrates that only one view is reasonable").
As the parties to the IBM and Sequent Software Agreements interpret them the same way,
no genuine issue of material fact exists. The IBM and Sequent Software Agreements cannot, as a
matter of law, be construed to prohibit IBM's use and disclosure of code in AIX or Dynix, like
the code IBM allegedly contributed to Linux, that does not contain any UNIX System V code.
2. The Documentary Evidence.
In addition to the testimonial evidence, there is also substantial contemporaneous
documentary evidence of the proper interpretation of the IBM and Sequent Software Agreements.
In written communications with its UNIX System V licensees (including IBM and Sequent),
AT&T consistently confirmed its view that under the UNIX System V software agreements, the
licensees owned and controlled any original code they created, except to the extent of any UNIX
System V code contained therein.
In 1985, shortly after it began licensing UNIX System V, AT&T notified all its UNIX
System V licensees that the standard UNIX System V software agreements—such as the ones
entered into by IBM and Sequent—were never intended to claim rights to the licensees' own
work. (¶¶ 114-124.) .
In the April 1985 $ echo newsletter that it sent to its licensees, AT&T announced that it
intended to make certain changes to the language of the standard UNIX System V software
agreement to "clarify ownership of modifications or derivative works prepared by a licensee"
under Section 2.01. (Ex. 37 at 5) (emphasis added). Subsequently, in the August 1985 edition of
$ echo, AT&T announced it had revised the standard software agreement to include language to
"assure licensees that AT&T will claim no ownership in the software that they developed—only
the portion of the software developed by AT&T". (Ex. 38 at 5) (emphasis added).
As clarified, Section 2.01 of the standard UNIX System V software agreement provided
as follows:
"AT&T-IS grants to LICENSEE a personal, nontransferable and
nonexclusive right to use in the United States each SOFTWARE
PRODUCT identified in the one or more Supplements hereto, solely for
LICENSEE'S own internal business purposes and solely on or in
conjunction with DESIGNATED CPUs for such SOFTWARE
PRODUCT. Such right to use includes the right to modify such
SOFTWARE PRODUCT and to prepare derivate works based on such
SOFTWARE PRODUCT, provided that any such modification or
derivative work that contains any part of a SOFTWARE PRODUCT
subject to this Agreement is treated hereunder the same as such
SOFTWARE PRODUCT. AT&T-IS claims no ownership interest in any
portion of such a modification or derivative work that is not part of a
SOFTWARE PRODUCT."
(Ex. 39 § 2.01 (emphasis added).)
These revisions to Section 2.01, as indicated in the $ echo newsletter, were not intended
to modify the original software agreements, but only to clarify the original intent of those
agreements for every licensee's benefit. (¶¶ 115, 121-24.) Thus, even to the extent that a UNIX
System V licensee did not have this specific language in its license, this revised Section 2.01
provides clear guidance as to the proper interpretation of the original Section 2.01.
The documentary evidence of AT&T's interpretation of Section 2.01 of the IBM and
Sequent's Software Agreements therefore establishes that the agreements do not restrict IBM's
and Sequent's disclosure of homegrown code. It is well-settled that "the practical interpretation
of a contract by the parties to it for any considerable period of time before it comes to be the
subject of controversy is deemed of great, if not controlling, influence." Federal Ins. Co. v.
Americas Ins. Co.. 691 N.Y.S.2d 508, 512 (N.Y. App Div. 1999) (quoting Old Colony Trust Co.
v. City of Omaha, 230 U.S. 100, 118 (1913)); see also Croce v. Kurnit, 737 F.2d 229, 235 (2d
Cir. 1984) ("[I]t is the parties' practical construction of the contract prior to the commencement
of litigation that is compelling."); Teachers Ins. & Annuity Ass'n of Am. v. Ocwen Fin. Corp.,
No. 98 Civ. 7137, 2002 WL 237836, at *8 (S.D.N.Y. Feb. 19, 2002) ("Perhaps the most
persuasive evidence of the intention of the parties when entering an agreement is their course of
performance under the agreement.") (attached hereto as Exhibit B). Here, the evidence shows
that until SCO brought the instant action, the parties to the contracts at issue consistently
interpreted them only to restrict the use and disclosure of UNIX System V source code.
Indeed, given AT&T's unequivocal representations about its interpretation of the
software agreements, upon which IBM and Sequent were entitled to, and did, rely, SCO should
be equitably estopped from arguing for a different interpretation of the contracts. Under New
York law, equitable estoppel "is imposed by law in the interest of fairness to prevent the
enforcement of rights which would work fraud or injustice upon the person against whom
enforcement is sought and who, in justifiable reliance upon the opposing party's words or
conduct, has been misled into acting upon the belief that such enforcement would not be sought."
Nassau Trust Co. v. Montrose Concrete Prods. Corp., 436 N.E.2d 1265, 1269 (N.Y. 1982). It
would be manifestly unjust for SCO (which was not involved in negotiating the agreements) to
be allowed to assert in this case an interpretation of the software agreements contrary to AT&T's
consistent statements regarding those agreements since they were first signed in 1985. See
General Elec. Capital Co. v. Armadora, S.A., 37 F.3d 41, 45 (2d Cir. 1994) (holding that because
one party's conduct indicated agreement with the other party's interpretation of the contract, it
was estopped from later asserting a contrary interpretation).
3. The Extrinsic Evidence Is So One-Sided That No Reasonable Fact-Finder
Could Agree With SCO's Interpretation Of The Agreements.
Taken together, the extrinsic evidence in this case "is so one-sided . . . that no rational
trier of fact" could conclude that the IBM and Sequent Software Agreements prohibit IBM's
disclosure of code, such as the code IBM allegedly contributed to Linux, that does not contain
any licensed UNIX System V code. Kaiser-Francis Oil Co. v. Producer's Gas Co., 870 F.2d 563,
569 (10th Cir. 1989). Indeed, there is no competent or credible evidence to support SCO's
interpretation of the agreements. Accordingly, summary judgment should be granted in IBM's
favor on SCO's breach of contract claims even if the Court finds the language of the agreements
to be ambiguous. See Compagnie Financiere de CIC et de L'Union Europeenne v. Merrill
Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc., 232 F.3d 153, 159 (2d Cir. 2000) (holding that a court "may
resolve the ambiguity in the contractual language as a matter of law if there is no extrinsic
evidence to support one party's interpretation of the ambiguous language or if the extrinsic
evidence is so one-sided that no reasonable fact-finder could decide contrary to one's party's
interpretation".)
Summary judgment is especially appropriate in this case, where any ambiguity must be
construed against SCO, because AT&T—SCO's alleged predecessor-in-interest—drafted and
prepared the standard form agreements used to license UNIX System V. (¶ 78.) See Jacobson v.
Sassower, 489 N.E.2d 1283, 1284 (N.Y. 1985) ("In cases of doubt or ambiguity, a contract must
be construed most strongly against the party who prepared it.") (emphasis added); see also
Westchester Resco Co., L.P. v. New England Reinsurance Corp., 818 F.2d 2, 3 (2d Cir. 1987)
("Where an ambiguity exists in a standard-form contract supplied by one of the parties, the well-
established contra proferentem principle requires that the ambiguity be construed against that
party.").
C. SCO's Interpretation Of The Software Agreements Is Unreasonable.
SCO's interpretation of the IBM and Sequent Software Agreements should further be
rejected because it is patently unreasonable. Under New York law, the "rules of construction of
contracts require, wherever possible, that an agreement should be given a 'fair and reasonable
interpretation'". Farrell Lines, Inc. v. City of New York, 281 N.E.2d 162, 165 (N.Y. 1972).
Thus, "[a] contract should not be interpreted to produce a result that is absurd,
commercially unreasonable or contrary to the reasonable expectations of the parties", In re
Lipper Holdings, LLC, 766 N.Y.S.2d 561, 562 (N.Y. App. Div. 2003) (internal citations
omitted); see also Leighton's Inc. v. Century Circuit, Inc., 463 N.Y.S.2d 790, 792 (N.Y. App.
Div. 1983) (Fein, J., dissenting) ("An unreasonable interpretation or an absurd result is to be
avoided."); Reape v. New York News, Inc., 504 N.Y.S.2d 469, 470 (N.Y. App. Div. 1986)
("[WJhere a particular interpretation would lead to an absurd result, the courts can reject such a
construction in favor of one which would better accord with the reasonable expectation of the
parties.").
SCO's interpretation of the Software Agreements in this case would plainly produce an
absurd and commercially unreasonable result. As set forth above (at ¶¶ 62-63), under SCO's
interpretation of the Software Agreements, SCO has the right to control every single one of the
tens of millions of lines of code that have ever been put into (and that will ever be put into) AIX
or Dynix by IBM. This interpretation would allow SCO to co-opt decades of IBM's work in
developing and improving AIX and Dynix—by continually adding new capabilities and
functionalities—simply because those programs contain, or even once contained, some source
code, no matter how negligible, from UNIX System V. SCO's interpretation would also mean
that SCO has the right to control code that was written by third parties and licensed to IBM, even
if such third parties have no relationship at all with SCO. According to SCO, just because a third
party licenses code—that it expended its own resources developing—to IBM, and IBM includes
such code in AIX or Dynix, SCO gets to dictate forever after the use and disclosure of that third
party's code by IBM. That is plainly unreasonable.
Indeed, under SCO's theory, it has the right to control the work of the hundreds of UNIX
System V licensees who at any time used some source code from UNIX System V in one of its
own computer programs. This would mean that SCO has the right to control, for example, all of
the source code for all of the different functionalities in Hewlett Packard's HP-UX operating
system and SGI's IRIX operating system, among others.
The absurdity of SCO's interpretation of the contract is exposed by SCO's very own
analogy set forth above (at ¶¶ 125-26): SCO claims to have acquired the rights to the computer
program UNIX System V, represented here as A-B-C-D-E-F. Assume that IBM has written a
program, such as AIX or Dynix, which contains tens of millions of lines of source code,
including certain lines from UNIX System V (less than a hundred thousand according to SCO),
A-B-C, but also includes the new source code G-H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O-P-Q-R-S-T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z
written by or for IBM. Under SCO's interpretation of the software agreements, because the A-B-
C code is present in IBM's program, which (SCO says) might be considered a modification or a
derivative work of UNIX System V (because it contains some small percentage (less than 1%). of
UNIX System V code), IBM is prohibited from using its own source code G-H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O-
P-Q-R-S-T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z (which is tens of millions of lines of code) in other programs. That is
true, according to SCO, even if, for example, the M-N-0 code was written by a third party and
licensed to IBM for whatever uses IBM sees fit. This is not consistent with the plain language of
the IBM and Sequent Software Agreements and is entirely unreasonable. Since the G-H-I-J-K-L-
M-N-O-P-Q-R-S-T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z code does not include any A-B-C code, IBM (and others like
it that also licensed the A-B-C code) should not be restricted from using and disclosing its own
code as it chooses.
For a more concrete example, consider the following. The Encyclopedia Brittanica
Company writes and publishes a multi-volume encyclopedia, consisting of thousands of entries
and lines of text, that is issued in a different edition annually, i.e., as "Encyclopedia Brittanica
1985". Assume that another company, the New Encyclopedia Company, copies certain of the
entries from Encyclopedia Brittanica 1985 under a license similar to the ones IBM and Sequent
entered into with AT&T—for example all the entries starting with the letters A, B and C—and
incorporates those entries into its own multi-volume encyclopedia, "New Encyclopedia 1986".
Under SCO's interpretation of the licenses, the Encyclopedia Brittanica Company has the right to
control not just the New Encyclopedia Company's use and disclosure of the entries copied from
Encyclopedia Brittanica 1985, but all of the entries in the New Encyclopedia 1986, even the
thousands of entries written by the New Encyclopedia Company's own employees starting with
the letters D through Z, and even if those entries had been written before New Encyclopedia
Company copied any entries from Encyclopedia Brittanica. Moreover, as SCO reads the
contract, if the New Encyclopedia Company licensed from the Scholastic Encyclopedia Company
entries written by that company for the letter Z, the Encyclopedia Brittanica Company would
have the right to control those entries also. Indeed, under SCO's interpretation of the licenses,
the Encyclopedia Brittanica Company would have the right to control all entries that will ever be
included by the New Encyclopedia Company in future versions of the New Encyclopedia, such as
New Encyclopedia 1987, New Encyclopedia 2004 or even New Encyclopedia 2085.
SCO's interpretation of the software agreements is plainly untenable and would, without
question, produce an absurd result. It is entirely unreasonable to interpret AT&T's UNIX System
V licenses to restrict hundreds of companies, all of whom are SCO's actual or potential
competitors in the software industry, from using and disclosing source code that they developed
on their own. See Elsky v. Hearst Corp., 648 N.Y.S.2d 592, 593 (N.Y. App. Div. 1996) (holding
that contract should not be interpreted to lead to a "commercially unreasonable restriction").
Moreover, as further evidence of the unreasonableness of SCO's theory, SCO's
interpretation of the Software Agreements is at odds with the basic principles underlying federal
copyright law.
Under the copyright law, the right to copyright a work, and the attendant benefits, "vests
initially in the author or authors of the work". 17 U.S.C. § 201(a). The holder of a copyright on
a particular work "has the exclusive rights to do and to authorize any of the following: (1) to
reproduce the copyrighted work in copies or phonorecords; (2) to prepare derivative works based
upon the copyrighted work; [and] (3) to distribute copies or phonorecords of the copyrighted
work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease or lending...." 17
U.S.C. § 106. Thus, when IBM, or any other person or entity, writes its own computer code, it
automatically gains the exclusive right to copy and distribute that code.
This same principle applies even with respect to derivative works, although the copyright
law makes clear that the "copyright in a ... derivative work extends only to the material
contributed by the author of such work, as distinguished from the preexisting material employed
in the work, and does not imply any exclusive right in the preexisting material". 17 U.S.C. §
103(b). The copyright in such derivative work "is independent of, and does not affect or enlarge
the scope, duration, ownership, or subsistence of, any copyright protection in the preexisting
material". Id. (emphasis added).
Under the copyright law, therefore, it is well-settled that the author of a derivative work
has the right to copyright (and thus control the copying and distribution of) any of its own
original materials in the derivative work, but has no rights with respect to the preexisting
materials. It is also settled that the author of the preexisting materials does not have any rights in
the newly-created derivative work, except to the extent of the preexisting materials contained
therein.
SCO's interpretation of the IBM and Sequent Software Agreements is not consistent with
these basic copyright principles. As SCO reads the agreements, SCO, the author of a preexisting
work, has the right to control all parts of IBM's derivative works, including those original
materials contributed by IBM. This is an unreasonable interpretation of the language of the IBM
and Sequent Software Agreements, which gives no indication that it is meant to deprive either
party of its rights under the copyright laws.
II. NOVELL AND SCO HAVE IN ANY EVENT WAIVED ANY PURPORTED
BREACH AS A MATTER OF LAW.
Even if SCO's interpretation of the contracts were not untenable, both Novell, on SCO's
behalf, and SCO itself have waived any right to assert claims against IBM relating to IBM's and
Sequent's homegrown code. Summary judgment on SCO's breach of contract claims is therefore
appropriate for these additional reasons.
A. Novell Has Explicitly Waived The Alleged Breaches By IBM.
Under New York law, "[w]aiver requires the voluntary and intentional abandonment of a
known right which, but for the waiver, would have been enforceable". AXA Global Risks U.S.
Ins. Co. v. Sweet Assocs., Inc., 755 N.Y.S.2d 759, 760 (N.Y. App. Div. 2003). In this case, the
undisputed facts establish that Novell, on SCO's behalf, voluntarily and intentionally abandoned
any purported rights against IBM under the Software Agreements.
As is set forth above (at ¶¶ 20-23), Novell retained certain rights to AT&T's UNIX
System V licenses (including IBM's and Sequent's) when it sold them to Santa Cruz (from
whom SCO eventually acquired its purported rights to the licenses). In particular, under the
parties' 1995 Asset Purchase Agreement, Novell retained the right "at [its] sole discretion" to
direct Santa Cruz to "amend, supplement, modify, or waive any rights under . . . any SVRX
License", and to take any such actions on Santa Cruz's behalf if Santa Cruz failed to do so. (Ex.
15 § 4.16(b) (emphasis added).) Indeed, Santa Cruz recognized as much in Amendment X to
IBM's Software and Sublicensing Agreements, to which Novell was a party, and which
specifically noted that "Novell retained . . . certain rights with respect to" the agreements IBM
entered into with AT&T, including particularly "Software Agreement SOFT-00015 as amended"
and "Sublicensing Agreement SUB-00015A as amended". (Ex. 16 at 1 (emphasis added).)
The language of the Asset Purchase Agreement setting forth Novell's continuing rights to
AT&T's UNIX System V agreements is plain and unambiguous and can therefore be understood
based on its terms alone. No parol evidence is needed to explain the parties' intent. There is no
question that Novell retained the right to waive any rights under the UNIX System V licenses
entered into by IBM and Sequent, including specifically the IBM Software Agreement and the
Sequent Software Agreement.
There is also no question that Novell invoked its rights. On October 7, 2003, after SCO
commenced this lawsuit against IBM, Novell informed SCO by letter that its interpretation of the
Software Agreement was incorrect. (¶ 128.) Consistent with the plain language of the contracts,
and the extensive extrinsic evidence reviewed above, Novell stated in its letter that the
agreements between AT&T and IBM provide "a straightforward allocation of rights":
"(1) AT&T retained ownership of its code from the Software Products
('AT&T Code'), and the Agreements' restrictions on confidentiality and
use apply to the AT&T Code, whether in its original form or as
incorporated in a modification or derivative work, but (2) IBM retained
ownership of its own code, and the Agreements' restrictions on
confidentiality and use do not apply to that code so long as it does not
embody any AT&T Code".
(Ex. 41.) In accordance with the rights it retained to AT&T's UNIX System V licenses, Novell
therefore directed SCO "to waive any purported right SCO may claim to require IBM to treat
IBM Code itself as subject to the confidentiality obligations or use restrictions of the IBM
Agreements. (Id.)
After SCO failed to follow Novell's instruction, on October 10, 2003, Novell sent a letter
to SCO that expressly "waive[d] any purported right SCO may claim to require IBM to treat IBM
Code, that is code developed by IBM, or licensed by IBM from a third party, which IBM
incorporated in AIX but which itself does not contain proprietary UNIX code supplied by AT&T
...[,] as subject to the confidentiality obligations or use restrictions of the Agreements". (Ex.
42.)
On February 6, 2004, Novell further directed SCO to waive any purported right to assert a
breach of the Sequent Software Agreement based on IBM's use or disclosure of code that does
not contain any UNIX System V source code. (¶ 132.) In its letter, Novell reiterated that SCO's
reliance on Section 2.01 of the Software Agreement was misplaced, and stated that "SCO's
interpretation of section 2.01 is plainly contrary to the position taken by AT&T, as author of and
party to the SVRX licenses". (Ex. 43.)
After SCO failed to follow Novell's instruction, on February 11, 2004, Novell expressly
"waive[d] any purported right SCO may claim to require Sequent (or IBM as its successor) to
treat Sequent Code as subject to the confidentiality obligations or use restrictions of Sequent's
SVRX license". (Ex.44.)
Novell's letters to SCO establish as a matter of law that even if SCO had the right under
the IBM and Sequent Software Agreements to prevent IBM from disclosing its or Sequent's
original code, Novell explicitly waived such right.
B. Through Its Own Conduct. SCO Has Waived Its Purported Rights To Claim
Breach Of Contract.
Even if SCO's interpretation of the IBM and Sequent Software Agreements were correct
(which it is not), SCO itself has also waived any alleged breach by IBM relating to the code IBM
is alleged to have improperly contributed to Linux. Under New York law, waiver "may be
established ... by acts and conduct manifesting an intent and purpose not to claim the alleged
advantage or from which an intention to waive may reasonably be inferred". Heidi E. v. Wanda
W., 620 N.Y.S.2d 665, 665 (N.Y. App. Div. 1994).
In this case, SCO's acts and conduct are plainly inconsistent with an intention to assert a
breach of contract against IBM based on the code allegedly at issue. Both before and even after
SCO sued IBM, SCO sold to customers and made publicly available on the Internet the code that
it claims IBM improperly contributed to Linux. (¶¶ 144-153.) Indeed, this code was still
available on SCO's website as recently as August 4, 2004. (¶ 153.) SCO cannot on the one hand
market and sell the source code IBM contributed to the Linux operating system, and on the other
hand claim that IBM was prohibited by its licensing agreements from contributing that code to
Linux.
For many years prior to its filing this lawsuit, SCO's principal business was the
distribution of the Linux operating system, the development and marketing of software based on
Linux, and the provision of Linux-related services to customers. (¶¶ 12, 139.) In fact, in 2002,
SCO formed the UnitedLinux partnership with three other Linux distributors with the intention
of creating a single uniform Linux distribution designed for business use. (¶ 140.) Just two
months before SCO brought suit against IBM, in January 2003, UnitedLinux signed IBM as a
technology partner to, among other things, jointly promote UnitedLinux's first Linux
distribution, UnitedLinux Version 1.0. (¶ 143.)
SCO does not dispute that its own Linux distributions, including UnitedLinux Version
1.0 (distributed by SCO as "SCO Linux Server 4.0"), which it sold or otherwise made available
for more than a year before bringing this suit against IBM, contain code upon which SCO's
claims are based. (¶ 144.)
In fact, SCO specifically touted to its customers that its distributions of Linux included
the very technology it now complains IBM improperly contributed to Linux. (¶¶ 146-49.) For
example, in its January 2002 product announcements for OpenLinux Server 3.1.1 and OpenLinux
Workstation 3.1.1, SCO advertised that the products included new features such as "better SMP
scaling up to 32 processors" and "journaling file system support". (Exs. 51 & 52.) Likewise, its
November 2002 product announcement for "SCO Linux Server 4.0" stated that the "the core of
SCO Linux Server 4.0 is the 2.4.19 Linux kernel" and that "[n]ew features" include "improved
journaling file system support", "Asynchronous I/O" and "Enterprise Volume Management
Systems (EVMS)". (Ex. 54.) SCO's Technical Overview of SCO Linux 4.0 even emphasized
that its product included "JFS (Journaled File System Developed by IBM)". (Ex. 55 (emphasis
added).)
Moreover, although SCO claims to have "discontinued" distributing any products
containing the source code it claims IBM improperly disclosed, SCO continued to do so after it
filed this lawsuit. (¶¶ 150-53.) For example, SCO released its "SCO Linux Server 4.0 for the
Itanium Processor Family" product on April 14, 2003, after SCO filed its original Complaint. As
with its earlier release of SCO Linux Server 4.0, SCO's product announcement proclaimed that
the new features of this product included "improved journaling file system support",
"Asynchronous I/O" and "Enterprise Volume Management Systems (EVMS)". (Ex. 56.)
REDACTED
In addition, SCO continued to make the Linux 2.4 kernel available for download from its
website well after it commenced this lawsuit (¶ 153.) This code was still available on SCO's
website as recently as August 4, 2004. (Id.) The version of Linux available from SCO's website
includes code it claims IBM disclosed in violation of its contracts. (Id.)
Given SCO's extensive promotion and sale of Linux, and of the specific code contributed
by IBM therein, for years prior to commencing this suit against IBM, SCO has waived any right
to claim that IBM breached its contracts by disclosing such code. SCO cannot openly accept the
benefits of IBM's contributions to Linux, and then claim that such contributions were improper.
SCO's claims therefore fail as a matter of law for this reason also. See, e.g. Sec. Indus.
Automation Corp. v. United Comp. Capital Corp., 723 N.Y.S.2d 668, 669 (N.Y. App. Div. 2001)
(affirming grant of plaintiffs cross-motion for summary judgment when defendant's conduct
demonstrated waiver of contract claim); T.W.A. Trading. Inc. v. Gold Coast Freightwavs, Inc.,
No. 2001-900, 2002 WL 1311648, at *1 (N.Y. App. Term Apr. 2, 2002) (granting defendant's
cross-motion for summary judgment after finding waiver of contract claim based on plaintiffs
conduct) (attached hereto as Exhibit C).
Conclusion
For the foregoing reasons, IBM respectfully requests that the Court grant IBM summary
judgment on SCO's breach of contract (SCO's First, Second, Third and Fourth Causes of Action)
claims.
DATED this 13th day of August, 2004.
SNELL & WILMER L.L.P.
________[signature]_____
Alan L. Sullivan
Todd M. Shaughnessy
Amy F. Sorenson
CRAVATH, SWAINE & MOORE LLP
Evan R. Chesler
David R. Marriott
Attorneys for Defendant/Counterclaim-Plaintiff
International Business Machines Corporation
Of counsel:
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
Donald J. Rosenberg
Alec S. Berman
[address, phone]
Attorneys for Defendant/Counterclaim-Plaintiff
International Business Machines Corporation
1
SCO also asserts claims against IBM for copyright infringement, unfair competition and tortious interference. These claims are not at issue in this motion (although SCO's copyright claim depends in part on its contract claims).
2
The undisputed (and indisputable) facts supporting this motion are
set forth in the accompanying declarations of Kathleen Bennett
("Bennett Decl."); Thomas L. Cronan III ("Cronan Decl."); Randall
Davis ("Davis Decl."); Michael J. DeFazio ("DeFazio Decl."); David
W. Frasure ("Frasure Decl."); Geoffrey D. Green ("Green Decl."); Ira
Kistenberg ("Kistenberg Decl."); Richard A. McDonough III ("McDonough
Decl."); Jeffrey W. Mobley ("Mobley Decl."); Scott Nelson ("Nelson
Decl."); David P. Rodgers ("Rodgers Decl."); Roger C. Swanson
("Swanson Decl."); Joan Thomas ("Thomas Decl."); Steven D. Vuksanovich
("Vuksanovich") and Otis L. Wilson ("Wilson Decl."), and the
documents appended to the Declaration of Todd M. Shaughnessy, which
are cited herein as "Ex. ___".
3
IBM's Second Amended Counterclaims are attached as Exhibit 3 to the
Shaughnessy Declaration.
4
Similar to its claim for breach of the IBM and Sequent Sublicensing
Agreements (discussed at ¶¶ 64-65 below), SCO also asserts
that IBM breached Section 6.03 of the IBM and Sequent Software
Agreements by continuing to use "SOFTWARE PRODUCTS" after SCO's
purported termination of the agreements. (See Ex. 27 at
57.)
5
The
undisputed facts are cited herein (in the "Argument" section of
this memorandum) as "¶ ___", referring to the relevant
paragraph number(s) in the foregoing "Statement of Undisputed
Facts".
6
SCO's
claims for breach of the IBM and Sequent Sublicensing Agreements are
merely derivative of and depend entirely upon its claims relating to
the IBM and Sequent Software Agreements. (¶¶ 64-65.)
7
As
SCO's contract claims are before this Court based on diversity
jurisdiction, Utah choice of law rules determine the applicable law.
See Elec. Distribs,. Inc. v. SFR, Inc., 166 F.3d 1074, 1083
(10th Cir. 1999). Utah law provides that the parties'
choice of law in a contract should be respected. See id. at
1083-84; see also Glezos v. Frontier Inv., 896 P.2d 1230,
1234 (Utah Ct. App. 1995).
8
A
derivative work, under federal copyright law, is "a work based
upon one or more preexisting works". 17 U.S.C. § 101. "A
work consisting of editorial revisions, annotations, elaborations,
or other modifications which, as a whole, represent an original work
of authorship, is a 'derivative work'." Id. A derivative
work, therefore, "must incorporate in some form a portion of the
[preexisting] copyrighted work" and "must be substantially
similar to the [preexisting] copyrighted work". Vault Corp. v.
Quaid Software Ltd., 847 F.2d 255, 267 (5th Cir.
1988); accord Litchfield v. Spielberg, 736 F.2d 1352, 1357
(9th Cir. 1984). SCO does not identify any UNIX System V
code that is allegedly incorporated into or is substantially similar
to any of the code IBM is alleged to have improperly contributed to
Linux. (¶¶ 31-48, 58-61.) To the contrary, the only UNIX
System V code SCO claims to have discovered in AIX and Dynix is not
part of the code that SCO claims IBM improperly contributed to
Linux. (¶¶ 7, 61.)
9
Under
New York law, the Side Letter (which was executed at the same time
as the IBM Software Agreement) must be read together with the IBM
Software Agreement. See This Is Me, Inc, v. Taylor, 157 F.3d
139, 143 (2d Cir. 1998) ("Under New York law, all writings forming
part of a single transaction are to be read together."); accord
In re Holocaust Victim Assets Litig.,, 256 F.Supp.2d 150, 153
(E.D.N.Y. 2003) ("Where several instruments constitute part of the
same transaction, they must . . . be interpreted together.")
(quoting RJE Corp. v. Northville Indus. Corp., 198 F.Supp.2d
249, 263 (E.D.N.Y. 2002).
10Accord Ocean Transp. Line, Inc. v. American Philippine Fiber Indus., Inc., 743 F.2d 85, 91
(2d Cir. 1984) ("The parties' interpretation of the contract in practice, prior to litigation, is
compelling evidence of the parties' intent."); RJE Corp. v. Northville Indus. Corp., 198 F. Supp.
2d 249, 263 (E.D.N.Y. 2002) ("When interpreting an ambiguous contract, the subsequent
conduct of the parties also is relevant with regard to the parties' intention."); Viacom Int'l. Inc. v.
Lorimar Productions. Inc., 486 F. Supp. 95, 98 n.3 (S.D.N.Y. 1980) ("The practical interpretation
of a contract by the parties, manifested by their conduct subsequent to its formation for any
considerable length of time before it becomes a subject of controversy, is entitled to great, if not
controlling weight in the construction of the contract."); Factors, Etc., Inc. v. Creative Card Co.,
444 F. Supp. 279, 281-82 (S.D.N.Y. 1977) ("It is hornbook law that where there is ambiguity in
a contract the intent of the parties may be ascertained by reference to their subsequent course of
conduct.")
11 See also Johnson v. Werner, 407 N.Y.S.2d 28, 31 (N.Y. App. Div. 1978) (noting that
ambiguities in a form contract must be resolved against the author); Rieter v. Tavella, 549
N.Y.S.2d 888, 889 (N.Y. App. Div. 1990) (same).
12 Indeed, it is "against the general policy of the law" to interpret a contract in a way that would
produce "an unreasonable result" or "would, in effect, place one party to the contract at the mercy
of the other". Mandelblatt v. Devon Stores, Inc., 521 N.Y.S.2d 672, 675 (N.Y. App. Div. 1987).
13 Under Utah law: "A waiver is the intentional relinquishment of a known right. To constitute
waiver, there must be an existing right, benefit or advantage, a knowledge of its existence and an
intention to relinquish it." In Re Estate of Flake, 71 P.3d 589, 599 (Utah 2003) (quoting Soter's
Inc. v. Deseret Fed. Sav. & Loan Ass'n, 857 P.2d 935 (Utah 1993)).
14 See also In Re Estate of Flake, 71 P.3d 589, 599 (Utah 2003) (holding that waiver occurs
when a party intentionally acts in a manner inconsistent with its contractual rights) (Utah law).
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