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Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd Subject: Re: AT&T/USL CD-ROM Review Process Path: sserve!manuel.anu.edu.au!munnari.oz.au!spool.mu.edu!think.com!unixland!rmkhome!rmk From: rmk@rmkhome.UUCP (Rick Kelly) Organization: The Man With Ten Cats Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 03:42:10 GMT Reply-To: rmk@rmkhome.UUCP (Rick Kelly) Message-ID: <9212152242.13@rmkhome.UUCP> References: <1992Dec14.165913.6896@fcom.cc.utah.edu> <1992Dec14.181906.8513@nrao.edu> Lines: 24 In article <1992Dec14.181906.8513@nrao.edu> cflatter@nrao.edu writes: >In article 6896@fcom.cc.utah.edu, terry@cs.weber.edu (A Wizard of Earth C) writes: >>Second, Linux is arguably more like SVR3 (and by extension SVR4) than >>386BSD; this, I believe, puts it in more danger of censure. The thing >>that has protected Linux so far is its international (non-US) origin. >>This is not something USL has to worry about forever, it's simply an >>inconvenience to prosecution, not a barrier. If a judgement were given >>regarding copyright infringement by Linux against USL's materials, it >>wouldn't matter that the judgement occurred in the US; Linus' government >>would be forced by the Berne convention to uphold the judgement. > >Linux is in less danger of censure than 386BSD since Linux was developed >from scratch without the use of code that is potentially contaminated by >code covered by a USL license. Although Linux is similar to System V at >the interface level its kernel design is quite different. Of course, the AT&T lawyers can turn around and say that even though Linus didn't have any exposure to AT&T sources, that other contributers might have. -- Rick Kelly rmk@rmkhome.UUCP unixland!rmkhome!rmk rmk@frog.UUCP