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From: efrem@Lbl-Csam.ARPA
Newsgroups: net.unix-wizards
Subject: Re:  Trade Secrets
Message-ID: <339@sri-arpa.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 3-Apr-84 00:37:51 EST
Article-I.D.: sri-arpa.339
Posted: Tue Apr  3 00:37:51 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 31-Mar-84 09:17:39 EST
Lines: 19

From:  (Efrem Lipkin [DBG])efrem@Lbl-Csam.ARPA

Actually posting the source of Unix on the church door, would break
AT&T's trade secret.  If something is not secret, it is not secret.

I suggest anyone trying it have close friends in either the CIA, the
KGB, or the Mafia.

If a smaller company had released so many source copies of a program
into the world, I doubt they would be able to claim that the contents
of these programs were an effectively protected trade secret.

However, when the smoke cleared, Bell would still hold the copyright and
still own Unix.  It would be not be in the public domain and making
copies of either the source or binary would still be illegal.  The only
difference would be that you could legally show your copy of Unix to
your friends.

-- Efrem