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LINDON, Utah (AP) -- The SCO Group, the software company best known for its claim that the Linux operating system incorporates some of its proprietary Unix code, has reported a first quarter net loss of $4.6 million, or 23 cents a share.
That compares with a loss of nearly $3 million, or 17 cents per share, for the same quarter a year earlier.
However, the Utah-based company said Wednesday that it is not expecting any more huge quarterly payments to lawyers in its intellectual property lawsuits.
It said it has made the final $2 million quarterly payment to Boies, Schiller & Flexner, although it expects to pay their future expenses in the litigation.
SCO announced last August that it had reworked its agreement with the law firm to limit the attorneys' cash costs to $31 million. It also boosted the contingency amount to a higher percentage should SCO win its cases or settle. The firm agreed to lead SCO's efforts to conclusion.
The company's loss for the quarter ended Jan. 31 included $401,000 in stock-based compensation options. The year-ago quarter included $15,000 in stock-based compensation expense.
Revenue for the quarter was $7.3 million, down from $8.9 million in the year-earlier quarter.
The company said the decline "was primarily due to continued competitive pressures on the company's Unix products and services."
At the end of the quarter, SCO had $19.2 million in cash, cash equivalents and available-for-sale marketable securities, it said. It also had almost $1.8 million in cash in an escrow account for litigation.
SCO's most prominent case is its multibillion-dollar lawsuit claiming International Business Machines Corp. allowed Unix code to enter the freely distributed Linux operating system.
SCO's quarterly announcement came after markets closed.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
