robison@eosp1.UUCP (Tobias D. Robison) (03/23/84)
References: I'm not comfortable with Barry Gold's permission on the lack of copyright notices on UNIX files. It's clear they should be copyright-labeled as appropriate, and it's even more clear that anything in the public domain should be well labeled; we're paying taxes to support the development of public software under federal funding, and we have a right to know what we have earned. BUT... The organisation that owns your UNIX machine has signed a contract licensing the use of the machine. You are bound by that contract regarding your rights to carry the software off to another machine. I've never seen that contract, but I doubt it says that you may copy any program not specifically copyrighted. If you choose to copy files because of the lack of copyright notice, I think (I'm not a lawyer) that you are essentially triggering a legal combat between you and the licensee of your UNIX, and between the licensee and licenser. The lack of copyright notices would be just one factor in those battles. Is your relationship with the owner of the UNIX machine (perhaps your employer) such that you feel entitled to expose him to a breach of contract suit? What are the terms of the standard UNIX license? Would anyone care to comment? - Toby Robison allegra!eosp1!robison decvax!ittvax!eosp1!robison princeton!eosp1!robison