I'm not sure why we would think this issue between IBM and SCO would spill
over to Linux in general?  Per an article found at
http://www.computerworld.com/softwaretopics/os/linux/story/0,10801,79153,00.
html the issue is that (per IBM statement) they are moving features from
SCO's AIX Unix into Linux.

"Darl McBride, SCO's CEO since June, said in an interview this morning that
the lawsuit was inspired by public comments made recently by IBM executives
who have allegedly said they're moving features from IBM's AIX Unix into
Linux to benefit enterprise customers as part of IBM's Linux strategy. The
problem with that, McBride said, is IBM doesn't own AIX, but licenses it
through SCO."

If SCO's copyrighted code were already in Linux, why would IBM need to add
it to Linux.  It would seem that this is a issue of IBM and only IBM wanting
to add SCO's copyrighted code to IBM's offering of Linux.

YMMV.

George