Open Source Development Labs (OSDL), the non-profit Linux consortium, has launched a legal defense fund to meet costs of end users threatened by The SCO Group. OSDL will also look after Linus Torvalds, its most famous employee. Torvalds was subpoenaed by SCO in November.

OSDL says the target for the fund is $10 million, but has reached $3 million already. The money is not for developers who are threatened by SCO; and the money is strictly for helping with legal defense costs.

In response, SCO's Darl McBride argued that end users should "indemnify" themselves by paying SCO for a license to use Linux. SCO has had an uphill struggle persuading end users that they need to pay the SCO tax, as SCO has failed to provide convincing evidence to support its case.

IBM and Intel have primed the ODSL pump, according to the New York Times this morming. You can find more details here. ®