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"I Hope SCO Is Paying Attention to Compuware vs IBM Case" Says Maureen O'Gara

"SCO, Meet Compuware; You Guys Can Commiserate Together"
By Maureen O'Gara
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August 21, 2004 12:00 AM EDT
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 20,187
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    Now here's a story SCO ought to pay attention to.

    Compuware Corporation, which sued IBM for software piracy two-and-half years ago in a case that's due to go to trial in three months, rushed into court the other day with an "emergency motion" in hand asking the court to slap IBM around and find in its favor for suddenly finding "critical" source code in two separate locations on opposite sides of Australia after discovery had closed and the case was about to be heard. Compuware also wants its legal bills reimbursed.

    At the very least Compuware, which claims IBM stole its source code and charges it with unfairly using its mainframe monopoly, wants the just-unearthed source code suppressed as evidence.

    IBM was ordered to produce the source code in July 2002. Instead it evidently produced "numerous sworn statements" that the code didn't exist. Since IBM didn't produce the code, Compuware failed to get the injunction it wanted. Now Compuware is afraid it's being "sandbagged" with "additional burdens and delays."

    SCO of course, which is suing IBM for $5 billion for allegedly putting its source code in Linux, claims to be having a devil of a time getting IBM to produce court-ordered discovery.

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    • Published August 21, 2004 – Reads 20,187
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    Maureen O'Gara the most read technology reporter for the past 20 years, is the Cloud Computing and Virtualization News Desk editor of SYS-CON Media. She is the publisher of famous "Billygrams" and the editor-in-chief of "Client/Server News" for more than a decade. One of the most respected technology reporters in the business, Maureen can be reached by email at maureen(at)sys-con.com or paperboy(at)g2news.com, and by phone at 516 759-7025.

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    Most Recent Comments
    Compuware Coincidences 08/21/04 03:33:04 PM EDT

    I don't know the merits of the Compuware case, but there are some remarkable
    similarities at a glance with SCO

    1. Go here
    http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=CPWR&t=5y&l=off&z=m&q=l&c=

    You can see they were worth something a few years ago, and then they declined

    2. Go here
    http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=CPWR&t=2y&l=off&z=m&q=l&c=

    A remarkable recovery in stock price after suing IBM in early 2002

    3. Insiders selling (and not buying any) stock since they filed the lawsuit

    http://finance.yahoo.com/q/it?s=CPWR

    4. Lots of press coverage, press releases about their lawsuit, e.g.

    August 18th
    http://finance.yahoo.com/q/h?s=CPWR

    5. Publishing the lawsuit filings on their site
    All'sFair 08/21/04 03:29:24 PM EDT

    SCO, unlike the RIAA which is targeting kids, is going after large well funded companies who are perfectly able to take care of themselves. In all cases the firms being challenged have more resources and are larger than SCO.