Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site masscomp.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!masscomp!z From: z@masscomp.UUCP (Steve Zimmerman) Newsgroups: net.emacs Subject: Re: dbx distribution revisited Message-ID: <730@masscomp.UUCP> Date: Wed, 26-Jun-85 09:50:45 EDT Article-I.D.: masscomp.730 Posted: Wed Jun 26 09:50:45 1985 Date-Received: Thu, 27-Jun-85 05:47:34 EDT References: <2355@topaz.ARPA> <6447@Shasta.ARPA> Organization: Masscomp - Westford, MA Lines: 31 The legal issues involved here certainly are somewhat messy. In the case of AT&T code, even greater care must be taken compared to something like Gosling's code, since the AT&T code is protected by trade secret protection, which is considerably broader in scope than simple copyright protection. Under trade secret protection, algorithms and ideas as well as code are protected. To definitively say how that would relate to a case such as dbx is hard to do without expert legal advice, but there are some guidelines. For example, Joe Chapman of CCA Uniworks stated the following in a recent message to this newsgroup: Beginning with CCA EMACS version 162.36z, CCA EMACS no longer contained any of the code from Mr. Montgomery's EMACS, or any methods or concepts which would be known only by programmers familiar with BTL EMACS of any version. This is essentially the same wording used by AT&T in a letter to CCA at the time CCA and AT&T resolved the situation regarding CCA EMACS and Warren Montgomery's code, and is a good indication of what AT&T considers trade secret protection to mean. Which side of the line does dbx fall on, and how much risk is there in using it for sites without source licenses? I certainly can't offer a definitive answer here. However, I do know that during my time as project manager for CCA EMACS I dealt quite a bit with the CCA lawyers, and they would never have let me put something like dbx into the CCA EMACS distribution. So I would suggest that individuals either check with their own company attorneys on the matter before using this code, or else that a qualified attorney post an opinion to the net. Steve Zimmerman Masscomp