Novell did not transfer the copyright of Unix to SCO; thats the jury's decision in SCO's "slander of title" case against Novell

Novell has moved to quell growing concerns that it has sold Linux out to Microsoft as part of its Attachmate deal. On Wednesday, Novell chief marketing officer John Dragoon issued a short statement saying that Novell – not Microsoft – owns the copyrights on Unix.

A US federal appeals court overturned a judge’s ruling that granted Novell the copyright of the Unix computer OS yesterday. A panel of three judges of the 10th US circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a judge in the August 2007 case wrongfully handed the copyright to Novell. As a result the panel has ordered a “remand for trial” to establish ownership.

In a shock announcement, Microsoft has today taken majority ownership of software house Novell. This immediately gives the Redmond giant control of Novell's intellectual property assets including the legal copyright over UNIX.

Well, here we go again. Novell now accuses SCO of trying to smuggle in some evidence and expert reports after the deadline in the Novell case too. That gives you the tone in this extraordinary filing, Novell's Evidentiary Objections to SCO's Exhibits Submitted in Support of its Summary Judgment Oppositions Filed May 18, 2007 [PDF].

Litigation between the SCO Group and Novell over the copyright to Unix grinds slowly onwards. The Court of Appeals has affirmed that SCO must pay approximately $2.5 million in royalties to Novell, but has remanded the question of whether the copyright to Unix was passed on to SCO when the distribution rights were sold, back to the Utah District Court for retrial.

Novell wants the US Supreme Court to review its seemingly-never-ending legal tete-a-tete with SCO over the famous UNIX and UNIXware copyrights. As noticed by Groklaw, Novell has filed a motion with a federal appeals court asking for a 90-day stay in the SCO case so it can file a writ of certori petition with the Supremes.

SCO's procrastination may lead to a situation where Novell no longer bothers to fight for UNIX ownership

"So Novell really does now finally seem to own the Unix copyrights. Linux finds itself on a high-ground pedestal of long-term, low-risk use (unless Microsoft buys Novell [should have when they could have, eh?]). And IBM and Novell are closer than ever."