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From: dan@idis.UUCP (Dan Strick)
Newsgroups: net.flame,net.unix,net.unix-wizards,net.legal
Subject: Re: Where"s the (c) on unix?
Message-ID: <269@idis.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 23-Mar-84 06:05:27 EST
Article-I.D.: idis.269
Posted: Fri Mar 23 06:05:27 1984
Date-Received: Sun, 25-Mar-84 08:34:03 EST
References: sdcrdcf.933
Lines: 17

The unix sources are "proprietary".  This means that AT&T has maintained
the legal fiction that the unix sources are secret (i.e. not published) by
requiring that everyone who has access to the sources sign a nondisclosure
agreement.  Since the sources have not been published, they don't need to
contain copyright notices to be protected by copyright law.

Question: There must be zillions of people who have access to unix sources
and have signed nondisclosure agreements.  There are certainly more than
a few people who have managed to fall through cracks and have access to
unix sources without having signed agreements.  At what point does the
legal fiction that unix is a trade secret become just a plain fiction?
It seems to me that AT&T is depending more on the threat of legal action
than on law to protect its rights to unix.

					Dan Strick
					U of Pitt
					[decvax|mcnc]!idis!dan