From owner-freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Oct 24 01:19:59 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-advocacy@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-advocacy@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 974D816A412 for ; Tue, 24 Oct 2006 01:19:59 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from jhs@flat.berklix.net) Received: from thin.berklix.org (thin.berklix.org [194.246.123.68]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id A80C943D49 for ; Tue, 24 Oct 2006 01:19:51 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from jhs@flat.berklix.net) Received: from js.berklix.net (p549A5DDD.dip.t-dialin.net [84.154.93.221]) (authenticated bits=128) by thin.berklix.org (8.12.11/8.12.11) with ESMTP id k9O1JnPC014687 for ; Tue, 24 Oct 2006 03:19:49 +0200 (CEST) (envelope-from jhs@flat.berklix.net) Received: from fire.jhs.private (fire.jhs.private [192.168.91.41]) by js.berklix.net (8.13.6/8.13.6) with ESMTP id k9O1Jj2i018694 for ; Tue, 24 Oct 2006 03:19:48 +0200 (CEST) (envelope-from jhs@flat.berklix.net) Received: from fire.jhs.private (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by fire.jhs.private (8.13.6/8.13.6) with ESMTP id k9O1Jk0R035428 for ; Tue, 24 Oct 2006 03:19:46 +0200 (CEST) (envelope-from jhs@fire.jhs.private) Message-Id: <200610240119.k9O1Jk0R035428@fire.jhs.private> To: freebsd-advocacy@freebsd.org In-reply-to: <200610231639.k9NGdiUn065080@lurza.secnetix.de> References: <200610231639.k9NGdiUn065080@lurza.secnetix.de> Comments: In-reply-to Oliver Fromme message dated "Mon, 23 Oct 2006 18:39:44 +0200." Date: Tue, 24 Oct 2006 03:19:46 +0200 From: "Julian H. Stacey" Subject: Re: CDROM-Artwork X-BeenThere: freebsd-advocacy@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: FreeBSD Evangelism List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 24 Oct 2006 01:19:59 -0000 Oliver Fromme wrote: > [Trimmed Cc list.] > > Julian H. Stacey wrote: > > 2, Page 1899 has it all capitals. All through the book, the .rof > > macro generating the automatic footer does it as caps. Bell sold > > Unix through a tedious chain of companies to whoever owns it this week. > > Well, the chain isn't that long and tedious, basically AT&T, > USL, Novell and The Open Group. And even USL doesn't really > count because it was just a "daughter" of AT&T. The Open > Group owns the trademark for 13 years now. Saying "whoever > owns it this week" isn't really justified, I think. Just a jaundiced view, was more to be read between the lines, eg: "Who owns Unix?" issues have been around for decades: 1980 +-2 Unix wasn't just a license, but a trade secret, Lyons V6 books got recalled & passed. Universities were allowed sources, polytechnics not. After Bell & USL there was Unix Europe etc in Putney, London that sold Unix licenses in the early 80s. SCO involvements arose. Unix & BSD trademarks, The non disclosed BSD settlements, early patents issues eg SUID & compress. If BSD grows to interest marketers like Linux has, some predators will migrate from Microsoft & Linux to BSD. Some [big] users will likely get opportunistically sued, There are always enough exploitative people in business to assure that, ( & before anyone thinks "Can't be sued, if done nothing wrong", Not so, One need do nothing wrong & still be sued, eg: - To chance lots of dodgy claims (Per USA judge criticising SCO). - To waste time & disrupt a competitor's key personnel. - To impose expenses that may not be recovered before insolvency. With USA government & European Patent Office in an arms race for future software patent trade wars, programmers may need lots of patent lawyers, considering src/ & ports/ & cdrom/dvd & ftp sitess, Future software patent claims may well outweigh trademark compliance admin costs. -- Julian Stacey. BSD Unix C Net Consultancy, Munich/Muenchen http://berklix.com Mail Ascii, not HTML. Ihr Rauch = mein allergischer Kopfschmerz. http://berklix.org/free-software