H-P Offers to Take the Worry Out of Linux for Customers

"H-P's actions this morning reaffirm the fact that enterprise end users running Linux are exposed to legal risks," SCO said in a press release. "H-P's actions are driving the Linux industry towards a licensing program. In other words, Linux is not free."

H-P, however, disputed that charge. Martin Fink, H-P's vice president for Linux, said the indemnification program is not designed to drive the Linux industry toward licensing. "This is not at all a licensing program," Fink said in a phone interview Wednesday.

"This is really about removing the cloud" of a lawsuit, with the indemnification meant to send a message to Linux customers that H-P takes accountability for its Linux solution, he added. "We need to put our money where our mouth is," Fink said.

Fink would not comment on SCO's suit. "Our position so far is that we make no comment as to the validity of SCO's claims, and that's for the courts to decide," he said.

Jeff Neuburger, an intellectual property lawyer at the New York firm Brown Raysman Millstein Felder & Steiner, who has been following the SCO case, said H-P's actions may reveal more about the company's need to calm customers than its view of the case.

"I think it's more of a customer-relations initiative," Neuberger said. "I don't think you can conclude that the lawsuit has no merit."

But, he added, "They probably wouldn't be this generous if they thought the lawsuit had merit behind it."