Xref: utzoo comp.os.minix:7325 misc.legal:11300 comp.unix.questions:16731 Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!wuarchive!psuvax1!gatech!emcard!wa4mei!nanovx!msa3b!kevin From: kevin@msa3b.UUCP (Kevin P. Kleinfelter) Newsgroups: comp.os.minix,misc.legal,comp.unix.questions Subject: Patent on UNIX set-UID Message-ID: <1144@msa3b.UUCP> Date: 2 Oct 89 21:11:14 GMT Followup-To: misc.legal Organization: Management Science America, Inc., Atlanta, GA Lines: 10 I frequently read that UNIX's set-UID bit was one of the first software patents. What protection is claimed/provided under this patent? Operating systems such as MINIX (functionally equivalent to SYS 7, but not containing ONE line of actual AT&T code) provide the set-UID feature. Are they violating the patent? Should someone (Prentice-Hall in the case of MINIX) be paying a patent fee for distributing the operating system which uses this patented concept? If not, why not? -- Kevin Kleinfelter @ Management Science America, Inc (404) 239-2347 gatech!nanovx!msa3b!kevin