The GPL is the basis of the free software movement, of which Linux is the best known example. SCO are claiming that some programmers took code which SCO owned and released it illegally under the GPL.
The worrying thing is, there is nothing inherently implausible about this claim. There are over 30 million lines of program source in a Linux distribution, if you include all the programming tools and utilities.
Since the Unix source code is widely available inside the sorts of large companies where many Linux contributors work, someone could have decided to take a shortcut when writing a complicated section of a program and just copied it from Unix.
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There is no formal mechanism for ensuring that the developers are not submitting code which does not belongs to them, only this unstructured peer review and that may not be enough.
Unfortunately, the typical response of a Linux user to SCO's claims has been to dismiss them. They criticise SCO for even hinting that Linux could be anything other than perfectly legal and clean, and support actions such as the recent denial of service attack on the SCO website.
Since the GPL relies on copyright law for its legal strength, it seems unwise for the Linux world to argue - as some have - that SCO should be destroyed for daring to protect its own copyright.
[link|http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3191281.stm|Link]