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From: gordoni@chook.cs.adelaide.edu.au (Gordon Irlam)
Newsgroups: comp.patents
Subject: The other unix patent
Message-ID: <3236@cluster.cs.su.oz.au>
Date: 25 Oct 91 03:31:49 GMT
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The existence and history of the setuid patent is well known, but
apparently their was a second "unix" patent.  Does anybody know what
is was?

[This question is probably only of historical interest.]

The existence of a second patent is revealed in a handwritten
postscript affixed to a letter from John Lions included in the
Australian Unix Users Group Newsletter, pg. 21, 1:1, October 1978.

    P.S. Bell have two patents on UNIX
           (a) set-user-id bit
           (b) on "t**p*"

Unfortunately the handwriting is not legible.  Perhaps it is "type",
but what exactly this means is still not clear - troff/tbl/eqn?

                                              Gordon Irlam
                                              (gordoni@cs.adelaide.edu.au)