*BSD News Article 39104


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From: sef@kithrup.com (Sean Eric Fagan)
Subject: Re: Is FreeBSD free?
Organization: Kithrup Enterprises, Ltd.
Message-ID: <D0HBxK.6FM@kithrup.com>
References: <KSTAILEY.94Dec6121810@leidecker.gsfc.nasa.gov> <3c2h41$oq2@dagny.galt.com> <KSTAILEY.94Dec7103038@leidecker.gsfc.nasa.gov> <D0GvM0.5EA@calcite.rhyolite.com>
Date: Thu, 8 Dec 1994 06:41:43 GMT
Lines: 35

In article <D0GvM0.5EA@calcite.rhyolite.com>,
Vernon Schryver <vjs@calcite.rhyolite.com> wrote:
>    - the GPL people pay a lot of "attention" to compress vs the LZW
>	patents, I think mostly because compress.c is not covered by
>	the GPL.  The GPL people think people working on BSD software
>	without adding GPL's are Traitors To Humanity.

Wrong.  A non-LZW compression algorithm was invented, AND NOT USED, because
it was patented.  It was invented by someone who would have copylefted the
code, and who found out, after he had created and tested it, that a patent
had recently been issued.  The current gzip algorithm is the second attempt,
and, so far, has not been usurped by a patent.  That is still possible,
however, because of idiocies in the US PTO.

>	+ At one time, Unisys informally told software vendors to go
>	    ahead and not worry about the patent

Unisys would not place this in writing.  This was a requirement by the POSIX
committee before making compress a POSIX standard -- a similar requirement
was made for the AT&T setuid-bit patent, and AT&T agreed.  Unisys did not
agree.  Without that paper, Unisys could bring suit against anyone they
chose to, at any point they want to.

>    - there are things worse than the GPL, including software patents,
>	but there are also things much better than the GPL, such
>	as the BSD copyrights.

That depends on what you want to do.  For what RMS and the FSF want to do,
a BSD-style copyright is not acceptable -- look at what BSDi did.

I happen to place a BSD-style copyright on code I write, but I freely and
happily use and modify GPL'd code.  Unlike others, I don't use the code and
then bitch because the authors didn't see fit to place a license *I* want on
the code *they* wrote.