DENVER—The fate of ownership of the Unix computer operating system is heading to trial after a federal appeals court reversed a judge’s decision that granted the copyright to Novell Inc.
A three-judge panel of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Monday ruled that a judge in August 2007 erred in summarily granting the copyright to Novell. The software and computer infrastructure company has been locked in a yearslong legal battle with software company, the Utah-based SCO Group Inc., over ownership to the Unix copyright.
Part of the Unix computer code, developed by AT&T in 1969, is used in the Linux computer operating system that is distributed for free.
Novell claims it retained the copyright when it sold Unix in 1995.
Novell has operations in Provo, Utah, and Waltham, Mass.
