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SCO to launch legal Web site

Prosco.net will feature an archive of filings and other information related to the company's many legal battles over Linux.

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Stephen Shankland
2 min read
The SCO Group plans to launch a Web site to chronicle its legal battles relating to Unix and Linux, as part of an effort to counterbalance Groklaw.net--which was set up to poke holes in the company's legal claims.

The site, to be called Prosco.net, will feature an archive of legal filings, hearing dates and SCO positions on various matters, spokesman Blake Stowell said Tuesday. The Lindon, Utah-based company plans to launch the site by Nov. 1, he said.

"The site will be designed to be informational for people desiring to follow the company's litigation. We've received a lot of feedback from people saying, 'I would like to follow what's going on, but I would prefer to not have to visit Groklaw,'" Stowell said.

Groklaw, run by paralegal Pamela Jones, provides legal filings and detailed analyses of SCO's legal cases with IBM, Novell, AutoZone, DaimlerChrysler and Red Hat. It's popular with open-source fans who generally disparage SCO's legal attack.

Jones runs Groklaw as an amateur project, with assistance from contributors who report on court hearings, provide commentary and transcribe legal files into searchable text. But Groklaw led to a paid offshoot: A start-up called Open Source Risk Management hired Jones to compile a history of Unix intellectual property for a project called Grokline.

SCO argues that IBM copied proprietary Unix technology into open-source Linux, violating its contract with SCO. Big Blue rejects the charge and has countersued with three claims of patent infringment. SCO's suits haven't seemed to have slowed the spread of Linux.

Unlike Groklaw, SCO won't let others post their opinions on its site, Stowell said.