GPL Gets its day in court

Well, IBM finally started to use its massive resources and tons of IP to smack back at SCO this week. They filed countersuits left and right. The one that interests me the most is the one reported on Groklaw and mentioned on SlashDot.

If you read the filing carefully, IBM is finally building a case wherein GPL will be used to protect the rights of a copyright holder. In short they say:
"SCO attempted to charge people royalties for using Linux. The GPL does not allow for charges other than those associated with distribution. IBM holds copyrights on hundreds of thousands of lines of Linux. SCO is distributing that copyrighted code. Violating the GPL by charging is violating our copyright on that code. Thus, we want a cease and desist order against SCO for distributing Linux."

That is very paraphrased, but that's it in a nutshell. It seems very clear cut, and if a judge agrees, the FUD mongers out there who worry about the enforceability of the GPL will get their first real case to reflect upon.

Me? I am for both Open Source and Commercialization. I don't think it has to be either/or. I think there's room in the modern enterprise for both, and like I have said for years... "My Daddy taught me to use the right tool for the job, what did yours teach you?"

Hence, I want to see this end in IBM's favor, so that we can get past the FUD and down to tecnological usefulness when looking at products - no matter which side of the fence they come from.