lauren@Rand-Unix.ARPA (03/29/84)
It's not that simple, Rick. It's not just a matter of whether or not the secret "got out," but whether or not the entity controlling the "secret" made the proper attempts to control the secret through the appropriate legal contracts and actions. I think that AT&T would fall into this catagory of having done things "right," so if some bozo simply posted sources I don't think they would suddenly become public domain as you suggest. On the other hand, the person who did the posting might have some REAL problems on his or her hands. --Lauren--
efrem@Lbl-Csam.ARPA (04/03/84)
From: (Efrem Lipkin [DBG])efrem@Lbl-Csam.ARPA Actually posting the source of Unix on the church door, would break AT&T's trade secret. If something is not secret, it is not secret. I suggest anyone trying it have close friends in either the CIA, the KGB, or the Mafia. If a smaller company had released so many source copies of a program into the world, I doubt they would be able to claim that the contents of these programs were an effectively protected trade secret. However, when the smoke cleared, Bell would still hold the copyright and still own Unix. It would be not be in the public domain and making copies of either the source or binary would still be illegal. The only difference would be that you could legally show your copy of Unix to your friends. -- Efrem