Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!columbia!rutgers!sri-spam!sri-unix!hplabs!pyramid!decwrl!glacier!mips!mash From: mash@mips.UUCP (John Mashey) Newsgroups: net.micro.68k,net.arch Subject: Re: SUID Patent Message-ID: <714@mips.UUCP> Date: Sun, 5-Oct-86 17:58:24 EDT Article-I.D.: mips.714 Posted: Sun Oct 5 17:58:24 1986 Date-Received: Tue, 7-Oct-86 21:05:58 EDT References: <508@elmgate.UUCP> <64@mit-prep.ARPA> <15665@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> <4794@ukma.uky.csnet> <404@vaxb.calgary.UUCP> <231@ima.UUCP> Reply-To: mash@mips.UUCP (John Mashey) Organization: MIPS Computer Systems, Sunnyvale, CA Lines: 22 Keywords: (SUID Patent) Xref: mnetor net.micro.68k:1356 net.arch:3210 In article <231@ima.UUCP> trb@ima.UUCP (Andrew Tannenbaum) writes: >It rubs me the wrong way to see the creators of UNIX being dragged >through the dirt for patenting SUID. You aren't going to see Dennis >Ritchie saying "Oh yea? I did too create the SUID idea." I think SUID >was patented in an attempt to protect the UNIX kernel from theft - you >sell an illicit copy of the kernel, you violate patent law. Although I have no idea whether or not it was true in this case, it certainly was true that there were times at BTL (and elsewhere) that there were big pushes by the internal lawyers to generate patents on anything conceivable, for good and reaonable reasons. This was standard practice in the hardware side; whenever software patents were a hot topic, there was often a strong push to find things that were software patentable, not necessarily by those who generated the software. Note: this is no criticism of anybody, including the lawyers who sometimes tried to push patenting things that software people that were crazy. This area of the law has been a confusing quagmire for a long, long time. -- -john mashey DISCLAIMER: UUCP: {decvax,ucbvax,ihnp4}!decwrl!mips!mash, DDD: 408-720-1700, x253 USPS: MIPS Computer Systems, 930 E. Arques, Sunnyvale, CA 94086