Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!snorkelwacker!usc!ucsd!ucbvax!ucsfcgl!cca.ucsf.edu!root From: root@cca.ucsf.edu (Systems Staff) Newsgroups: comp.os.mach Subject: Re: setuid bit patent Summary: It doesn't matter. Message-ID: <3198@ucsfcca.ucsf.edu> Date: 11 Oct 90 23:55:38 GMT References: <1990Oct10.043444.13850@agate.berkeley.edu> <10656@goofy.Apple.COM> <2371@opus.cs.mcgill.ca> Organization: Computer Center, UCSF Lines: 25 In article <2371@opus.cs.mcgill.ca>, clement@opus.cs.mcgill.ca (Clement Pellerin) writes: > In article <10656@goofy.Apple.COM> escher@Apple.COM (Michael Crawford) writes: > >There is another problem. I understand one of those fellows, Ritchey I > >think, has patented the setuid bit, so one would have to license the bit > >to have any security systems work as under normal unix. I don't know how > >this would interact with the case mentioned above. > > This patent is rather old. > How long does it take for a patent like this to expire in the states? It doesn't matter; the patent has been abandoned formally (the jargon is, I believe, "dedicated to the public" and the detailed reference has been posted many times to the net. Thos Sumner Internet: thos@cca.ucsf.edu (The I.G.) UUCP: ...ucbvax!ucsfcgl!cca.ucsf!thos BITNET: thos@ucsfcca U.S. Mail: Thos Sumner, Computer Center, Rm U-76, UCSF San Francisco, CA 94143-0704 USA I hear nothing in life is certain but death and taxes -- and they're working on death. #include