In a ruling issued in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City, Magistrate Judge Brooke Wells ordered SCO to provide all the lines of code that IBM allegedly contributed to the open-source operating system. The Unix System V code was used by IBM in building its AIX and Dynix operating systems.
In addition, SCO was ordered to identify the lines of code in Linux that it lays claim to, and provide all lines of code that SCO has distributed to other parties.
For its part, IBM was ordered to provide the releases of AIX and Dynix, consisting of more than 230 products. "Following this production, SCO is to provide additional memoranda to the court indicating if and how these files support its position and how they are relevant," the order said.
IBM also was ordered to provide employee-generated documents and material pertaining to its Linux strategy, including documents from IBM Chief Executive Sam Palmisano and executive Irving Wladawsky-Berger.
"The court finds these materials are relevant because they may contain information regarding the use or alleged misuse of source code by IBM in its contributions to Linux," the order said.
IBM and SCO have 45 days to comply with the order, which stemmed from a Feb. 6 hearing in which SCO had argued for IBM to release potential evidence.
SCO is seeking $5 billion in damages from IBM, claiming it violated its license by contributing SCO's copyrighted code to Linux. IBM has denied the allegations and has countersued for patent infringement and other claims.
The outcome of the IBM suit is considered pivotal to other suits SCO has filed, including two on Wednesday against AutoZone and DaimlerChrysler.