The six-year-long Novell-SCO case is over - the judge ruled that Novell did indeed own Unix patents copyrights which SCO failed to license properly and therefore the case is closed.

Of course this case has closed before, but this really does seem like the end of the line.

Judge Ted Stewart said: "The jury could have rejected the testimony of SCO's witnesses for a number of reasons, including their lack of involvement in drafting the APA, the fact that there was little testimony on any actual discussions concerning the transfer of copyrights, or that many of the witnesses had a financial interest in the litigation."

SCO became little more than a source of lawyers' letters and was seen by many as the arch nemesis to the development of Linux.

There are other cases pending, including one against IBM, but they depended on the outcome of the Novell litigation.

The case began in 2004 over a transfer agreement made in 1995.

And finally, thanks to Groklaw, its volunteers and Pamela Jones, whose tireless efforts to follow and explain the twists and turns of this case showed what an obsessive compulsive with a blog can do and helped make the case understandable for those of us happy enough not to be lawyers. ®