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From: gwyn@smoke.BRL.MIL (Doug Gwyn)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions,misc.legal
Subject: Re: Patent on UNIX set-UID
Message-ID: <11214@smoke.BRL.MIL>
Date: 3 Oct 89 20:01:31 GMT
References: <1144@msa3b.UUCP>
Reply-To: gwyn@brl.arpa (Doug Gwyn)
Organization: Ballistic Research Lab (BRL), APG, MD.
Lines: 11

In article <1144@msa3b.UUCP> kevin@msa3b.UUCP (Kevin P. Kleinfelter) writes:
>I frequently read that UNIX's set-UID bit was one of the first software
>patents.

Not exactly; a hardware implementation was described since it wasn't
clear that a software invention would be patentable.

>Are they violating the patent?

Nobody is violating the patent rights, because the patent was dedicated
to the public many years ago.