The day Linux fans have been waiting for since SCO attacked Linux on May 12, 2003 has finally arrived. U.S. District Court Judge Dale Kimball has ruled that <A HREF="http://www.linux-watch.com/news/NS4446359842.html?kc=EWKNLNAV081307STR2">Novell, not SCO, owns Unix's IP (intellectual property) rights.</A> This, in turn, means the end of SCO's cases against IBM.

In his 102-page decision, Kimball went on to rule that "SCO is obligated to recognize Novell's waiver of SCO's claims against IBM and Sequent," Thus, not only does Novell own Unix, SCO's cases against IBM have essentially been destroyed.

Putting salt into SCO's wounds, Kimball also ruled that while "The court... is precluded from granting a constructive trust with respect to the payments SCO received under the 2003 Sun and Microsoft Agreements because there is a question of fact as to the appropriate amount of SVRX Royalties SCO owes to Novell based on the portion of SVRX products contained in each agreement." In short, SCO owes Novell at least some of the funds it received from its Microsoft and Sun Unix licensing deals, which it used to fuel its anti-Linux lawsuits.