A little company based in Austin is trying to become the next SCO. Instead of claiming ownership of various bits and pieces of UNIX code, Forgent is laying claim to the JPEG image file format.
This is just another example of how technology has outgrown copyright and patent law. The fact that Forgent doesn’t even make any products that have anything to do with JPEG–they make scheduling software–and that they hold the patent as a result of a merger a few years ago makes the lawsuit even more asinine.
Why are so many companies so quick to cheapen their names? SCO is very widely reviled. Companies like this sully their names in the pursuit of easy money, while at the same time other companies demonstrate that you can make quite a respectable pile by playing nice and keeping a tight leash on the lawyers.
Google’s Law is “Don’t be Evil,” and it continues to work very successfully for them. I propose an addition, call it the SCO corollary to Google’s Law: “Don’t be an Asshole.” If more companies adopted it as their business plan, the world would be a better place.
(Via Mezzoblue.)
