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SCO v. Novell appellate decision: $$ from Sun deal affirmed as Novell's; rest remanded for jury trial

By Pamela Jones et al.

The appeal decision [PDF] in SCO v. Novell is in:

For the foregoing reasons, we AFFIRM the district court's judgment with regards to the royalties due Novell under the 2003 Sun-SCO Agreement, but REVERSE the district court's entry of summary judgment on (1) the ownership of the UNIX and UnixWare copyrights; (2) SCO's claim seeking specific performance; (3) the scope of Novell's rights under Section 4.16 of the APA; (4) the application of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing to Novell's rights under Section 4.16 of the APA. On these issues, we REMAND for trial.

The issue was whether it is appropriate to decide matters on summary judgment, and this court thought the APA was complex enough and ambiguous enough that a jury trial is more appropriate. I think that means Chapter 7 looms, because SCO was counting on the appeal to overturn on the issue of the money that the Utah decision gave Novell from the Sun license deal, and that didn't happen. Of course, there could be new investors. But the odd thing is, SCO management is no longer in control of any decisions, as pointed out in its recent 8K:

Pursuant to the Bankruptcy Code, and subject to the supervision and approval of the Bankruptcy Court, the Chapter 11 Trustee will have, upon appointment, authority over the Debtors' assets and affairs and the future course of the Debtors' litigation against Novell, IBM, et al.

So, it's back to Utah! Unless Novell tries to appeal higher, of course, or asks for a full en banc rehearing. And it's up the the Chapter 11 trustee, once appointed, to decide what he thinks would be the next step, including Chapter 7. SCO's world has changed since it filed this appeal.

Full post as published by Groklaw on August 24, 2009 (boomark / email).