Utah jury decides ownership battle for Unix computer systems in favor of Novell Inc.

Utah jury decides Unix battle in favor of Novell

SALT LAKE CITY — A jury has decided in favor of Novell Inc. in an ownership battle over Unix computer server operating systems.

Following a three-week trial in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City, the jury ruled that Waltham, Mass.-based Novell owns copyrights to Unix, even though it sold licensing rights for the technology in 1995 to The SCO Group of Lindon, Utah.

SCO Group claimed it bought the copyrights along with the Unix license. It sued Novell for “slander of title” when Novell denied it.

Tuesday’s verdict makes a separate case SCO has filed against IBM Corp. less likely to succeed. SCO Group alleges IBM misappropriated Unix software code for improvements that made the open-source Linux operating system run better for business applications.

IBM has denied the charge.

Information from: The Salt Lake Tribune, www.sltrib.com