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From: ast@botter.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
Subject: Re: patent on the SUID bit
Message-ID: <1072@botter.cs.vu.nl>
Date: Tue, 17-Feb-87 18:01:53 EST
Article-I.D.: botter.1072
Posted: Tue Feb 17 18:01:53 1987
Date-Received: Thu, 19-Feb-87 06:26:35 EST
References: <43103@beno.seismo.CSS.GOV>
Reply-To: ast@cs.vu.nl (Andy Tanenbaum)
Distribution: world
Organization: VU Informatica, Amsterdam
Lines: 15
Keywords: SUID bit

In article <43103@beno.seismo.CSS.GOV> mo@seismo.CSS.GOV (Mike O'Dell) writes:
>Dennis Ritchie once upon a time claimed that AT&T had ceded the
>patent to the public domain so there would be no restrictions
>upon its use.  

I heard the same story from a person even more authoritative than Dennis
(in a certain abstract sense)--Otis Wilson, AT&T's patent licensing manager.
Of course they could change their minds now, but it is not clear if one can
get away with suddenly enforcing something that one previously didn't care
much about.    

Does anyone know how Idris, Coherent, SOL, and various other UNIX clones
have dealt with this issue in the past?

Andy Tanenbaum