Spinners at the anti-Linux bad-boy SCO have managed to put a really good angle on an appeal result.

A federal appeals court Monday overturned a 2007 decision that Novell owns the Unix code and sent the case back to trial, clearing the way for SCO to pursue a $1 billion copyright infringement case against IBM.

In a 54-page decision, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals said it was reversing the 2007 summary judgment decision by Judge Dale Kimball of the US District Court for the District of Utah, which found that Novell was the owner of Unix and UnixWare copyrights.

SCO CEO Darl McBride told the Salt Lake City Tribune that the decision was a “huge validation for SCO” and that it would enable the company to continue its lawsuit against IBM and a related suit against Novell. However this is not quite true. The appeals court affirmed a $2.5 million judgement against SCO. It must now pay up or appeal. Being bankrupt SCO does not really have $2.5 million to spend.

The appeals court did not say SCO was right. It just reversed a summery judgement against the company. While this is annoying, the bankrupt company might not be able to afford the time or the money to fight a full trial. If it manages it then a jury will probably come to the same decision that the Judge did and throw the book at SCO.