The group, a non-profit founded by free software pioneer Richard Stallman, said that while FSF “will not betray our legally protected confidences,” there are substantial costs associated with any of its options in responses to the SCO subpoena. Kuhn appealed to Linux supporters to join the FSF to support its work, which has benefits for the broader open source movement.

“If we fight the subpoena, it means substantial legal fees associated with litigation,” Kuhn wrote. “If we produce materials, it means substantial effort to gather the relevant documents. Even though we’ll be reimbursed for the direct costs, the indirect costs in staff time will be ours to bear.”

SCO contends that Linux includes copyrighted code from its own operating system, and is suing IBM. The company is also asking Linux users to pay $699 per server for the right to use its intellectual property.

The text of the SCO subpoena can be found here (PDF format).