As their seven-month-long legal battle continues Linus Torvalds, creator of the Linux operating system, is among the recipients of a flurry of subpoenas recently filed by IBM and The SCO Group Inc.
Spokesmen for IBM and Lindon, Utah-based SCO confirmed that subpoenas went out from both sides as they seek information to plot their legal fights.
Torvalds was subpoenaed by SCO, which in March filed a $1 billion lawsuit against IBM, alleging that IBM illegally contributed some of SCO's System V Unix code to the Linux development project. In August, IBM countersued SCO alleging patent infringement.
In an e-mail reply to Computerworld, Torvalds said today that he received the subpoena yesterday while eating dinner. "I don't know how these things work, and I will have to get a lawyer to tell me what to do," he said.
According to news.com, the Open Source Development Lab will pay its law firm to represent Linus Torvalds.