SysV rel3 license

[Richard Wood - DEC software]

In article <7989 at brl-smoke.ARPA> gwyn at brl.arpa (Doug Gwyn) writes:

>I have the disadvantage of having had to deal directly with AT&T
>licensing myself.  I suppose that disqualifies me.  Ok, then, at
>least READ the license/schedule rather than parroting what other
>people misstate about it.

As I understand it, the licensing agreements are somewhat negotiable on
each contract.  Although I would guess that the majority of licenses
are mostly identical, it probably doesn't mean they are all the
same.  I doubt that you've seen the Terms and Conditions that AT&T
imposed before DEC, IBM, Apollo or HP, for instance.  I've even heard
rumor that the content of the license is subject to a non-disclosure
agreement.  Is this true, and if so: why?

One major change that occurred between Release 2 and 3 is the renewal
option on the contract.  Many of the pre-3 contracts were perpetual.
I know IBM and DEC received these for Ultrix and AIX; thus DEC or IBM
can continue to sell products based on their current offerings (or
anything up to and including SVr2) without renegotiating.  On the
other hand, for Release 3, AT&T is insisting on periodic renewal.
That would mean that AT&T, at the time of renewal, could yank the
licensee's right to sell any software based on (or derived from) that
version.

Let's pose a little scenario here:  DEC signs the SysVr3 agreement,
and a six months later introduces a product based on it that has some
added feature or gimmick that some huge customer is drooling over.
AT&T realizes they could duplicate the function in a few months, but
how can they hold DEC back?  Oh: simple!  Six months later, simply
revoke the license.  DEC signed the contract, after all, right?

My personal opinion is that AT&T wouldn't do such a thing:  it would
be silly in today's legalistic society.  On the other hand, I also
don't think DEC's lawyers would ever approve such a contract in the
first place.  But that's what's in the contract, and is one of the
prime reasons that DEC (et al?) refuse to license SysVr3.  

===========================================================================
Unix is a registered trademark of AT&T.
AIX is a trademark of IBM.
Ultrix is a trademark of Digital Equipment Corporation.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
				   It should go without saying that I'm not
			      speaking as an official representative of DEC  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Richard Wood|Software Services, San Francisco|Digital Equipment Corporation
===========================================================================

===========================================================================
Unix is a registered trademark of AT&T.
AIX is a trademark of IBM.
Ultrix is a trademark of Digital Equipment Corporation.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
				   It should go without saying that I'm not
			      speaking as an official representative of DEC  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Richard Wood|Software Services, San Francisco|Digital Equipment Corporation
===========================================================================