Xref: utzoo comp.os.minix:7327 misc.legal:11301 Newsgroups: comp.os.minix,misc.legal Path: utzoo!henry From: henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) Subject: Re: Patent on UNIX set-UID Message-ID: <1989Oct3.171213.7350@utzoo.uucp> Organization: U of Toronto Zoology References: <1144@msa3b.UUCP> Date: Tue, 3 Oct 89 17:12:13 GMT 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... 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? Some years ago, AT&T "dedicated" (I think that's the right buzzword) the patent, meaning that it is available for use by all without royalties. Before that, Unix-workalike vendors did indeed have to either negotiate a licence and pay fees, or use something different. -- Nature is blind; Man is merely | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology shortsighted (and improving). | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu