Late reply, but one problem here is that the ruling against the company could give SAS them the right to take ownership of the software as a creditor to a company with no assets left other than the code.

Lots of complexities there, but the root of the issue is that you can't pull a company's main asset out from under legitimate creditors. And SAS will soon be a big creditor as soon as the ruling is final and they get a monetary judgment that the company presumably won't be able to pay.

There are lots of ways companies try to evade this basic principle, but none that can withstand the scrutiny of a court and motivated, financed creditor.