[TUHS] Is OpenText Corporation the Current System V Copyright Holder?

[Marc Rochkind]

Don't know the answer to your question, but last I knew the trademark (not
the copyright) was transferred to The Open Group. They came up with a set
of rules for what UNIX is and, as I understand it, for example, Linux is
not a UNIX-like system, it is a UNIX system. (The Open Group isn't
interested in implementations of the UNIX standard, only the standard
itself.)

Things change, and my information is a few years old. For all I know Elon
Musk owns it all now. ;-)

Marc

On Wed, Mar 13, 2024 at 6:34 PM segaloco via TUHS <tuhs at tuhs.org> wrote:

> Did some reading today, curious on the current state of things with AT&T's
> UNIX copyright genealogy.  The series of events as I understand it are:
>
> AT&T partners with Novell for the Univel initiative.
>
> Novell then acquires System V and USL from AT&T.
>
> Novell sells UNIX System V's source to SCO, but as the courts have ruled,
> not the copyright.
>
> Novell gets purchased by Microfocus.
>
> Microfocus gets purchased by OpenText Corporation.
>
> Does this make OpenText the current copyright holders of the commercial
> UNIX line from AT&T.
>
> What got me looking a bit closer into this is curiosity regarding how the
> opening of Solaris and the CDDL may impact publication of UNIX code between
> System III and SVR4.  I then felt the need to refresh on who might be the
> current copyright holder and this is where the trail has lead me.
>
> My understanding too is that Sun's release under the CDDL set the
> precedent that other sub-licencees of System V codebases are also at
> liberty to relicense their codebases, but this may be reading too far into
> it.  There's also the concern that the ghost of SCO will continue to punish
> anyone else who tries with costly-but-doomed-to-fail litigation.  Have
> there been any happenings lately with regards to getting AT&T UNIX
> post-PDP-11 opened up more in the world?  Reading up a bit on OpenText's
> business, they don't seem like they're invested in the OS world, seems that
> their primary sector is content management.  Granted, there's certainly
> under-the-radar trading of bits and pieces, but it would be nice to have
> some more certainty about what can happen out in the open.
>
> - Matt G.
>


-- 
*My new email address is mrochkind at gmail.com <mrochkind at gmail.com>*
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