RALEIGH – Linux users, where were you 20 years ago?

Would you remember that, 20 summers ago, a lawsuit put the future of Linux at risk?

At the time, the high profile suit, SCO v. IBM, filed in March 2003, involved SCO suing IBM for $1 billion, along with a mailing campaign with letters sent to 1,500 of the largest companies in the world that asserted IBM illegally contributed portions of SCO’s proprietary UNIX code, was roiled in confusion, WRAL TechWire reported in 2003.

Now, 20 years later, one portion of the lawsuit has been settled, according to reporting from ZDNet.  The ZDNet story reads:

“The US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, which has been overseeing the slow and painful bankruptcy of the remains of SCO, announced that the TSG Group, which represents SCO’s debtors, has settled with IBM and resolved all the remaining claims between TSG and IBM. “Under the Settlement Agreement, the Parties have agreed to resolve all disputes between them for a payment to the Trustee [TLD], on behalf of the Estates [IBM], of $14,250,000.“

In return, TLD gives up all rights and interests in all litigation claims pending or that may be asserted in the future against IBM and Red Hat, and any allegations that Linux violates SCO’s Unix or Unixware intellectual property. “

But the lawsuit might not be settled entirely.

Here’s why: Xinuos, a software company headquartered in the U.S. Virgin Islands, acquired SCO’s Unix products and intellectual property in 2011.  Xinuos filed suit against IBM and Red Hat earlier this year, alleging IBM and Red Hat “engaged in additional, illegal anti-competitive misconduct to corner the billion-dollar market for Unix and Linux server operating systems.”

IBM, Red Hat face copyright infringement, antitrust lawsuit in alleged ‘conspiracy’

According to a recent article on ZDNet, when Xinuos made the deal to acquire SCO, “its CEO, Richard A. Bolandz, promised that the company ‘has no intention to pursue any litigation related to the SCO Group assets acquired by the company. We are all about world leadership in technology, not litigation’.”

ZDNet had previously reported, in 2016, a similar stance from Xinuos.