Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!spool.mu.edu!sdd.hp.com!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!sei!fs7.ece.cmu.edu!o.gp.cs.cmu.edu!pt.cs.cmu.edu!dsl.pitt.edu!sean From: sean@dsl.pitt.edu (Sean McLinden) Newsgroups: comp.windows.x Subject: Re: AT&T Claims patent on part of MIT's X11 server. Message-ID: <1991Feb25.163318.14659@dsl.pitt.edu> Date: 25 Feb 91 16:33:18 GMT References: <9102231551.AA01386@lightning.McRCIM.McGill.EDU> Sender: news@dsl.pitt.edu (Usenet News System) Organization: Decision Systems Laboratory, Univ. of Pittsburgh, PA. Lines: 26 Nntp-Posting-Host: cadre.dsl.pitt.edu In article kaboom@media-lab.media.mit.edu (Jon Maiara) writes: >and perhaps seen the application. It might be helpful if one of the >consortium leader-types could say whether they have seen the patent >and think the claim is bogus, if they think we're doomed, or whatever. >Even if bizarre legal doings prevent this, it would still be helpful >to hear something. I'm neither a guru nor a spokesperson for anyone in the consortium but this claim seems like the workings of some wet-behind-the-ears law school graduate just hired by ATT. Apart from the technical considerations I suspect that the ATT claim would not find much sympathy in court. One difficulty is the fact that the X sources have been publically available for many years (I am sure that ATT had at least one copy), and in that time they made no effort to enforce the patent until now. Their motivation seems pretty clear; the nuisance costs will be greater, to most, than the cost of the license. Frankly, I doubt that they have the resources to press this issue if everyone simply ignored it. Besides being a technical miscalculation this may be one of the bigger public relations blunders that I've seen in a long time. Sean McLinden Decision Systems Laboratory University of Pittsburgh