In a move likely to antagonize the free software community even further, the SCO Group is to resume distributing Linux, but only if you agree to a new "IP license" which implicitly supports SCO's intellectual property claims.

Caldera, which changed its name to the SCO Group last year, had complied with the GPL since 1995, when it first shipped its Caldera Network Desktop product, until earlier this year. Ransom Love, who left the SCO Group last summer and sold his last share in the company he helped found, told eWeek "I wouldn't want to test the GPL in court, particularly given Caldera's history of voluntary compliance with it."

IBM has countersued SCO, arguing that it no longer has the right to distribute GPL software. SCO made its position on the GPL perfectly clear in a filing last week: it doesn't think the GPL is enforceable, so it's going to carry on violating it.

The offer is only open to SCO's existing customers, and details are here. ®

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