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From: peter@taronga.com (Peter da Silva)
Subject: Precedent... Whitesmiths
Re: AT&T vs. BSDI --> 4.3BSD-NET2 distribution requires AT&T license!!!
Message-ID: <QIQHXX9@taronga.com>
Keywords: AT&T 'Death Star' rises over BSDI's horizon [Tel. 1-800-800-4BSD]
Organization: Taronga Park BBS
References: <1992Jul21.142631.14517@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu> <mcuddy.711795634@fensende> <l6rld6INN3dh@neuro.usc.edu>
Date: Sun, 26 Jul 1992 18:37:16 GMT
Lines: 20
>AT&T's claim though if litigated
>well -- and AT&T has some of the best attorneys in the country -- may form
>a basis for asserting a property right in virtually any compatible version
>of a UNIX type operating system.
I believe there may be a precedent here, in the Whitesmiths C library and
Whitesmith's UNIX lookalike, from back in the early '80s. The original
release of Whitesmith's C and (I believe) Idris used a non-standard variant
of the UNIX standard I/O library to avoid any possible attack from AT&T (for
example, "putfmt()" instead of "printf()". This was changed, from what I
recall, after AT&T indicated that the interface defined in the UNIX
programmer's manual (the look and feel) was public domain.
In addition, of course, there is the precedent of donating the setuid patent
to the public domain.
--
`-_-'
Have you hugged your wolf today? 'U`
Peter da Silva, Taronga Park BBS, Houston, TX +1 713 568 0480/1032