Another of the SCO Group's targets has flipped it the birdie and refused to produce the material that was requested in a subpoena.
On a dedicated page on its website, executive director of the Free Software Foundation (FSF), Bradley Kuhn, complained about the size of the subpoena and said: "We are certain that we will not produce all the material requested; we will not betray our legally-protected confidences, particularly when they relate to our work upholding the integrity of the GPL."
The subpoena itself [pdf], according to Kuhn, "asks for every single document about the GPL and enforcement of the GPL since 1999. They also demand every document and email that we have exchanged with Linus Torvalds, IBM, and other players in the community."
He continues: "In many cases, they are asking for information that is confidential communication between us and our lawyers, or between us and our contributors." Needless to say, these documents will not be forthcoming.
The request is typical of SCO's heavy handed approach to gain recognition for what it claims is its copyright within the Linux open source operating system. The trial date for its battle with IBM was put back five months over SCO's demand for every copy of Unix every made to be sent to it. Subsequently, IBM demanded SCO's case be thrown out because it was completely without merit.
To make matters worse for SCO, another of its targets, DaimlerChrysler, told SCO last month that it felt no obligation to respond to its legal demands.
SCO has been under fire from its own side as well. The company that provided much of the finance for its legal crusade, Baystar, asked for its $20 million back claiming it had been misled.
When the other backer, The Royal Bank of Canada, actually cut out of the deal and sold its options at a loss, it was Baystar that picked them up, creating a storm of speculation about what deals had been struck between Baystar, RBC, SCO and Microsoft.
However, whichever what you look at it, the tide is currently turning against SCO and its fervent CEO Darl McBride. As the company spreads itself thin by piling into an increasing number of big companies, confidence against its case and the company's tactics is on the rise.
Other SCO subpoena targets include Linux creator Linus Torvalds, Open Source Development Labs' CEO Stuart Cohen, Transmeta general counsel John Horsley, as well as Novell and Digeo.