Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!longway!std-unix
From: jpn@genrad.com (John P. Nelson)
Newsgroups: comp.std.unix
Subject: Re: A "public domain" set of include files.
Message-ID: <260@longway.TIC.COM>
Date: 11 Nov 88 20:33:31 GMT
References: <255@longway.TIC.COM>
Sender: std-unix@longway.TIC.COM
Reply-To: jpn@genrad.com (John P. Nelson)
Organization: GenRad, Inc., Concord, Mass.
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Approved: jsq@longway.tic.com (Moderator, John S. Quarterman)

From: jpn@genrad.com (John P. Nelson)

>I have been wondering, for some time, about the status of the files in the
>/usr/include directory.  It would seem to me, that these files are the
>property of AT&T, and as such, cannot be distributed without a licence.

While they fall under the copyright rules, they do NOT fall under the
more restrictive "TRADE SECRET" rules, because they are available to the
normal binary licensee.

>As an example, consider the following;
>	if ((ip->i_mode & IFMT) == IFDIR)
>		/* something */;
>
>This is a fairly standard piece of code.  When RMS et al, produce a CERTIFIED
>AT&T-free kernel, it would seem to me, that this code CANNOT be included in
>any of the utilities, because it is using AT&T definitions.

Not quite.  If the definitions of these macros is contained in the MANUALS
(i.e. the SPECIFICATION), then anyone can recreate the header files from
the specification without fear of infringing on AT&T's copyright.  The
same thing would NOT be true if it were to fall under the AT&T "trade secret"
source contract.  Of course, it would still be illegal to include verbatim
copies of AT&T's header files.

Therefore, UNIX clones are quite legally able to match the UNIX interface,
since copyright only protects a particular EXPRESSION of an idea, not the idea
itself.

-- 
     john nelson

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Volume-Number: Volume 15, Number 27