SCO Sends Copyright Violation Warning To Linux Customers: Page 3 of 6

One spokesman dubbed the move as an "audit."

SCO claims that customers could be subject to fines of $30,000 for each instance of innocent infringement and up to $150,000 fine for willful infringement.

During the conference call Monday, SCO CEO Darl McBride said companies can avoid penalties by ceasing use of Linux, removing the offending files from the Linux software they use or by paying SCO a licensing fee.

SCO makes a distinction between what it dubs proprietary ABIs and application programming interfaces (APIs). The company acknowledges that some APIs have been made available through POSIX and other Unix open standards but alleges that the binary interfaces are protected under its ownership of Unix System V.

In an e-mail exchange with CRN, Torvalds, a fellow with the Open Source Development Labs, snubbed SCO's latest series of allegations as hollow and said the so-called violations relate to a group of simple header files, not significant IP.