Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!rutgers!husc6!cmcl2!brl-adm!adm!bzs@bu-cs.bu.edu
From: bzs@bu-cs.bu.edu
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards
Subject: Who owns Unix(tm)? (was: Re: Mach, the new standard?)
Message-ID: <9066@brl-adm.ARPA>
Date: Sun, 30-Aug-87 17:46:50 EDT
Article-I.D.: brl-adm.9066
Posted: Sun Aug 30 17:46:50 1987
Date-Received: Mon, 31-Aug-87 00:00:53 EDT
Sender: news@brl-adm.ARPA
Lines: 38


It is amusing at best that what is probably a profound legal question
on the effects of the break-up (&c.) on ATT's exclusive ownership
(likely impossible to describe adequately in less than a few thousand
pages of concise legalese) becomes the subject of one-liners mostly
reflecting personal moral (with the usual salt-and-peppering of
pseudo-logic) and political belief systems.

Right now AT&T appears to own "Unix" with everything that implies (the
right to license and sell it.) I have no doubt that someone so
inclined could manage to challenge this and absolutely no idea what
the outcome might be. I don't favor the idea that somehow AT&T is
destined to win such suit purely based upon their ability to afford
lawyers (Davids have beaten Goliaths and the courts can be one of the
more fertile battlegrounds for such endeavors) tho I would expect more
potent results if the campaign were backed by a company like DEC or
IBM. Then again, they (AT&T) might very well win the suit for the less
cynical reason: they're in the right. I honestly don't know but I've
yet to see the slightest bit of light shed on the subject in this list
and doubt anyone less than seer status is competent to do so.

I just really miss the point of public discussion except perhaps to
engage in some barroom chatter akin to whether or not Godzilla can
beat up King Kong.

If anyone knows of any legal cases which might reflect on this matter
either past or pending that might be of some peripheral interest, tho
perhaps not in u-w. I can see that some would change their priorities
in rewriting a free Unix'oid if they could be assured that such a
decision will be finalized one way or the other in the near future.
Unfortunately, no such certainty appears available.

If you're so inclined it's probably easier and more sure and
productive to re-write.

Support the FSF.

	-Barry Shein, Boston University