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Xref: sserve comp.unix.bsd:14439 comp.os.386bsd.misc:2919 Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!munnari.oz.au!news.Hawaii.Edu!ames!ncar!gatech!nntp.msstate.edu!saimiri.primate.wisc.edu!aplcenmp!jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu!blaze.cs.jhu.edu!rhombus.cs.jhu.edu!not-for-mail From: bogstad@rhombus.cs.jhu.edu (Bill Bogstad) Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd,comp.os.386bsd.misc Subject: Re: Legal status of NetBSD Date: 25 Jul 1994 13:50:15 -0400 Organization: The Johns Hopkins University, Computer Science Department Lines: 36 Message-ID: <310u0n$krt@rhombus.cs.jhu.edu> References: <MYCROFT.94Jul24025605@duality.gnu.ai.mit.edu> <310j8t$gl4@csugrad.cs.vt.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: rhombus.cs.jhu.edu In article <310j8t$gl4@csugrad.cs.vt.edu>, Jeff Aitken <jaitken@vt.edu> wrote: >... >Why is it so goddam difficult to comprehend that the FreeBSD core-team >members had one helluva time dealing with USL, and don't want to go >through it again? All Nate and the others have said is that IF USL >WANTS TO PLAY DIRTY, YOU COULD GET SCREWED BECAUSE THERE WILL BE LAWYERS >INVOLVED!!! No one from the FreeBSD team (to my knowledge) said >NetBSD-1.0 was tainted. They simply stated that USL might try to say >it is, and this could cause problems. I can't understand why this is >causing such a flame war!! If you're complying with the agreement >you've reached with USL, great! I hope everything works out well for >you. But don't infer things that weren't intended. As far as I can tell, in the USA the legal system allows any entity to sue any other entity for practically any reason with practically no cause. Given that both NetBSD and FreeBSD were both based on a release in which USL now claims proprietary rights; I'm sure they could come up with some vague claims which would at least allow them to reach a trial. I believe that the case between BSD and USL (or BSDI and USL) were never actually tried so there is no legal precedent here. It's not even clear to me if the final legal agreements reached are even available to the public. Given that neither NetBSD nor FreeBSD appear to have the financial resources to deal with even the preliminaries of a trial; this might be cause of concern. On the other hand, it appears the primary participants in the NetBSD group have a signed statment from USL which they claim to be following and which removes any concern about USL contamination. FreeBSD appears to have taken a different tact. They threw all of their old code out and started with the BSD release which USL had declared clean of contamination. My laymens opinion is that you are probably 'safe' using either method. If this isn't sufficient to alleviate your fears, consult your own lawyer or use Linux. Now can we go back to flameing about whether *BSD or Linux are better operating systems? :-) A happy Linux user, Bill Bogstad bogstad@cs.jhu.edu