Interview in Byte with Chris Sontag/SCO and FUD relating toBSDsettlement agreement

[Ed Hall]

"Greg 'groggy' Lehey" wrote:
> On Thursday, 19 June 2003 at  1:29:37 -0700, Terry Lambert wrote:
> > Greg 'groggy' Lehey wrote:
> >> On Wednesday, 18 June 2003 at  2:38:34 -0700, Terry Lambert wrote:
> >>> Greg 'groggy' Lehey wrote:
> >>>> Yes, it reminded me of that thread, but wkt was actually referring to
> >>>> System III, not 32V.
> >>>
> >>> I am also pretty certain that it was widely stated at the time
> >>> that the UCB's license was the older Western Electric license,
> >>> which is the same license which allowed Lyon's to publish his
> >>> commentary, legally, including the kernel source code.
> >>
> >> I suppose you mean John Lions.
> >
> > Yes.  I always spell his name wrong.
> >
> >> He got into a lot of trouble for that, and I doubt he would have
> >> got away with it in the USA.
> >
> > Really?  Can you point to the signed non-disclosure agreement
> > that he violated in order to publish his commentary?  The U.S.
> > was not nearly as anal about this stuff until the 1980's.
> 
> Things have got worse, yes.  But certainly there was enough trouble in
> the 70s.
> 
> >>> While the university, proper, did obtain a more modern license, that
> >>> license could not be retroactive to change the terms of the original
> >>> license.
> >>
> >> Which university are you talking about?  UCB or UNSW?
> >
> > UCB.
> 
> But John was at UNSW.
> 
> > You're in the area, aren't you?  
> 
> For some definition of area.  UNSW is about 1400 km away.  But I'll be
> in the area in about 6 weeks time.
> 
> > Why don't you ask to see the original license agreement that Lions
> > was under at the time of his commentary's publication.
> 
> I think I'll ask Greg Rose.  He might have some interesting insights.
> 
> Greg

See:

   http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/cs/who/dmr/licenses.html

for some links to a license from that era and some commentary on the
Lions case by Dennis Ritchie.  I think it clears up a few things...

		-Ed