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From: joeg@gagme (joe grosch)
Newsgroups: alt.suit.att-bsdi,comp.unix.bsd
Subject: Re: UNIGRAM's article on the USL-BSDI suit
Message-ID: <1992Aug9.180643.9384@serveme.chi.il.us>
Date: 9 Aug 92 18:06:43 GMT
References: <25138@dog.ee.lbl.gov>
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Organization: GAGME - Public Access UNIX of Chicago, Illinois, USA, Earth
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torek@horse.ee.lbl.gov (Chris Torek) writes:
[...Deleted...]
: The Berkeley license has, since 1981 if not earlier, ALWAYS given
: permission for others, including corporations, to do anything they want
: with UC Berkeley software, including sell it, as long as the Unversity
: of California is properly acknowledged.
[...Deleted...]
I have never seen nor do I own a copy of Net2 but I have been told by people
who have read Berkeley code that the following is "Everywhere" in the Berkeley
code. The following is a direct quote from W. Richard Stevens wonderful book
_UNIX Network Programming_. This quote can be found on the bottom of page 568
and the top of page 569. Chapter 14, section 14.3 "rcmd Function and rshd
Server"
/*
* Copyright (c) 1983 Regents of the University of California.
* All rights reserved.
*
* Redistribution and use in source and binary forms are permitted
* provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are
* duplicated in all such forms and that any documentation,
* advertising materials, and other materials related to such
* distribution and use acknowledge that the software was developed
* by the University of California, Berkeley. The name of the
* University may not be used to endorse or promote products derived
* from this software without specific prior written permission.
* THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED ``AS IS'' AND WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR
* IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE IMPLIED
* WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
*/
Stevens then goes on to list the complete code for both rcmd and rshd.
_UNIX Network Programming_ was published in 1990 (my copy) by Prentice
Hall. I have been told by the people that work at the book store where
I bought this copy, Books & Bytes in Naperville, IL., that they have
trouble keeping this book in stock.
I have 3 points to make and then I'll shut up.
1. The above copyright notice says that the "following code is the
property of the University of California, Berkeley Board of Regents."
It seems to me that Berkeley must have tons of lawyers who reviewed
this copyright notice and FORCED the programmers to place this in all
their code. Since Berkeley and AT&T had a relationship going back to
the mid to late 70's (Not sure of the exact date) one would assume
that "their lawyers talked to our lawyers". It seems odd to me that
Berkeley was placing copyright notices in their code as early as 1983
or '81 and the AT&T lawyers did'nt bitch about it, or at least file
a law suit. Does it seem reasonable to wait 10 years to file a law suit
to protect what you consided your property?
2. Prentice Hall has been publishing UNIX books since the first copy of
_The C Programming Language_ was published in 1978 (?). They even
published the manuals for AT&T's UNIX System V Release 3.2. Prentice
Hall also must have tons of lawyers and they also have had a
relationship with AT&T going back almost 15 years. Prentice Hall's
lawyers MUST have reviewed the galleys of _UNIX Network Programming_.
They also must speak with the AT&T lawyers. The fact that I and tens
of thousands of others own a copy of _UNIX Network Programming_ which
contains code that the University og California, Berkeley clams to
own is proof that neither the lawyers at Prentice Hall or AT&T at the
time had a problem with this.
3. There is a priciple in law that says that one must protect one's
property and due so in a timely manner or else one loses claim to
that property. It's called in encroachment (sp). If one owns a piece
of land and someone builds a house on that land, the owner of the land
must take legal action to remove that house AND that legal action must
start within a certain period of time or else the person who buildt
the house is "deeded title" to the land.
Even though AT&T may (not sure of the time limit) be allowed to file
suit to protect what they consider to be their property. The fact that
their lawyers were aparently told, almost constently over the last 10
years, that Berkeley considered this code that they (Berkeley) had
written to be their own and they (AT&T) did nothing seems to indicate
that AT&T agreed with Berkeley at the time. It seems to me that AT&T
now wants to own this code and since Berkeley cannot sell BSD as a
commericial venture they are attacking those who are, BSDI.
--
Josef Grosch | It's been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon, my home town...
joeg@gagme.chi.il.us | New Yorker by birth, Minnesoten by choice