Here are some new additions on the Scofacts bankruptcy
page, regarding In
re: SCO Group, Inc. et al., No. 07-11337, Bankr. D. Del. :
Court Hearings: (The data on the court-provided CDs is in
the undocumented four-channel audio format (RIFF WAVE wFormatTag 0x8180) used by
FTR PTY LTD, an Australian Proprietary Company (ACN
056 344 711); see ForTheRecord.com
for a
decoder that runs under Microsoft Windows.)
I don't have the November audio. I have the December audio, but
I'm waiting until next week to post it (see the email at the end of
this message.)
Here's a two-minute clip of Cahn detailing his diligence
in evaluating SCO's claims against IBM and Novell, and giving his
"confident" assessment of those claims:
http://scofacts.org/SCO-Group-bankruptcy-937-audio-clip-merit.mp3
MR. CAHN: If you're interested in what I've done as
the trustee so far, I can run through that in a couple
of minutes.
THE COURT: I would be delighted to hear
that.
MR. CAHN: Okay.
THE COURT: Thank you, Mr. Cahn.
MR. CAHN: I've read the 10th Circuit opinion four times, and I call to
your attention the fact that the petition for en banc rehearing has
been denied with no judge voting to even have it heard.
THE COURT: Okay.
MR. CAHN: I've read your opinion in regard
to the appointment of a trustee, and I've read the
transcript of that hearing. I've met personally with
SCO management, SCO management and its lead lawyer
Stuart Singer, to review the claims against IBM and
Novell in detail.
I met with IBM's lead lawyers, R. Levine [sic in official
transcript] and Dave Marriott to review their client's defenses; I met
with Novell's lawyers to discuss their client's defenses.
I've reviewed the transcripts of oral argument in the IBM case; I've
reviewed the parties's [sic in official transcript] briefs in the IBM
case; I've reviewed the presentation books in the IBM case; I've
reviewed the expert reports on both sides.
I've reviewed confidential SCO data; I've
reviewed Novell's anti-assignment argument; I
considered Novell's no-damage argument; I've reviewed
the arbitration proceeding in Switzerland which you
stayed; and I've conferred with SCO's legal team in
regard to issues in that case.
I am continuing, with the aid of the
financial consultants and my lawyers, to develop
strategies to maximize the assets of the debtor for
both the creditors and equity.
In my view, the Debtors' claims against Novell and IBM should be
pursued aggressively. I acknowledge I have much more analysis to do,
including another meeting with IBM's lawyers.
And [sic in official transcript] this juncture, I remain confident
that the Debtors' claims against IBM and Novell, especially in light
of the 10th Circuit opinion, are meritorious.
(December 30, 2009 hearing audio at 10:11:57-10:13:59 a.m., as
transcribed in the official transcript, dkt #976, at p. 11:3-12:22,
which Cahn later declared he had reviewed and found to be accurate
(plus any errors introduced in my human-assisted OCRing of that
transcript from this
fucking scan (dkt #953-4), because I'm too cheap to buy the text
version until the price drops from $15.30 to $1.36 on March
4))
(See the parent and grandparent of this message for Panglozz's
allegation of wink-and-noddery, and for the text of Cahn's signed
follow-up declaration, in which he wrote: "[srsly]" ("Declaration of Edward
N. Cahn", dkt #603-6, Exhibit E to "Declaration of Brent
O. Hatch in Support of SCO's Response to Novell's 'Notice of Related
Proceeding'", dkt #603, filed November 24, 2009 in SCO Group
v. Novell, No. 2:04-cv-139, D. Utah))
Weirdly, when he said "SCO management, SCO management", he was
backing up to change his pronunciation of SCO from rhyming with blow
to rhyming with cow, and he consistently used the cow version from
then on. In other words, the official, trustee-approved pronunciation
of SCO is now apparently "scowl" without the "l".
Below is a redacted version of an email I sent yesterday regarding
the December hearing audio. If I receive notice that someone actually
does want to attempt to have the audio sealed, then I will go to the
trouble of posting a redacted version, but I expect there won't be any
substantial response, and then I'll just post the full audio next
weekend.
The amount of information that was revealed about the Autozone
settlement was really quite small, and arguably nothing at all. I
attached a long clip to the email, to provide ample context, but the
only line that's really at issue is about one second long.
Date: Fri, 15 Jan 2010 14:07:06 -0800
From: "Alan P. Petrofsky, equity security holder"
To: "David J. Stewart, counsel for Autozone",
"Bonnie G. Fatell, counsel for trustee"
Cc: "Stanley B. Tarr, counsel for trustee",
"Edward Normand, counsel for trustee",
"Joseph McMahon, Jr., counsel for acting U.S. trustee",
"Adam A. Lewis, counsel for creditor Suse",
"Sean T. Greecher, counsel for creditor Suse",
"Michael A. Jacobs, counsel for creditor Suse",
"R. Stephen McNeill, counsel for creditor IBM",
"Richard Levin, counsel for creditor IBM"
Subject: Potential sealing of the December SCO bankruptcy hearing audio
(In re: SCO Group, Inc. et al., No. 07-bk-11337, Bankr. D. Del.,
and SCO Group, Inc. v. Autozone, Inc., No. 2:04-cv-237, D. Nev.)
Dear Mr. Stewart and Ms. Fatell:
For the convenience of the public and the parties, I have long been
making copies of the court's official audio recordings of most of
SCO's bankruptcy hearings freely available through the following web
page: http://scofacts.org/bankruptcy.html
At the December 30, 2009 hearing, for the first time in these cases,
there was some suggestion that confidential information had been
improperly publicly revealed in open court. Specifically, the trustee
objected after Suse Linux's counsel had just stated, [REDACTED], and
had thereby revealed that the confidential settlement agreement
between SCO Group and Autozone is [REDACTED].
I don't think this information warrants any protection. However, as a
courtesy to Autozone and the trustee, and out of an abundance of
caution, I have decided not to publicly redistribute my copy of this
portion of the audio recording until Autozone and the trustee have had
an opportunity to move for an order that the recording be placed under
seal and that the clerk of court stop providing copies of it to every
member of the public who requests one and pays the $26 fee. If
Autozone or the trustee, or any other party, gives me written notice,
NO LATER THAN ON FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 2010, that it intends to file
such a motion, and it goes on to file the motion no later than on
February 5 and notices it to be heard no later than at the March
omnibus hearing, then I will continue to refrain from publishing the
audio until the hearing date.
I am attaching to this email a clip of the relevant portion of the
audio. For your convenience, here is an unofficial transcription of
the clip (I do not have a copy of the official transcript and I do not
know how completely this portion of the recording was transcribed
therein; if anyone who happens to have a copy of the official
transcript would email a copy of it to me, I would much appreciate
it):
(Recording starts at approximately 11:12:55 a.m., December 30, 2009)
[REDACTED]
(Recording ends at approximately 11:14:34 a.m., December 30, 2009)
Yours truly,
Alan P. Petrofsky
Equity security holder of debtor The SCO Group, Inc.