Introduction
In March 2003, Caldera Systems Inc. doing business as ‘The SCO Group’ filed suit against International Business Machines (IBM) in Utah state court. Their complaint alleges, among other issues, misappropriation of trade secrets in variants of the UNIX computer operating system. What is emerging as a highly visible case, with relevance on the use of software beyond the computer operating systems in question, illustrates what will require a complex review of software source code.
While visible, it is not unique. The year 2002 saw the filing of approximately 2500 patent, 2000 copyright and 3000 trademark cases in US federal courts1. Many additional cases are filed in state courts in disputes over trade secrets and contractual issues. By rough estimate amongst these cases are possibly 250 where the core issue involves computer source code…and hence necessitates access to the source code for discovery, expert review and trial purposes.
