[Info-vax] [Attn: HP Employees] PDP-11 OS hobbyist licensing

[AEF]

On Wednesday, October 2, 2013 8:18:55 AM UTC-4, Bill Gunshannon wrote:
> In article <524b2edb$0$61281$c3e8da3$5e5e430d at news.astraweb.com>,
> 
> 	JF Mezei <jfmezei.spamnot at vaxination.ca> writes:
> 
> > On 13-10-01 16:02, Bill Gunshannon wrote:
[...]
> > 
> 
> >> HP already has lawyers on staff.  What makes you think the cost would be
> 
> >> high?
> 
> > 
> 
> > dept A would have to budget for the time spend by the lawyers in dept B
> 
> > at HP. Just because they are internal to HP does not mean that there is
> 
> > no cost to them.
> 
> > 
> 
> 
> 
> Protecting HP's IP is already one of their jobs and therefore already
> 
> budgeted.

Bill, you raise some excellent points, however . . . 

C'mon. You don't know how busy these lawyers are and what hp's priorities are. Unless these lawyers are sitting around waiting for something to do, it still costs hp because the lawyers are then not free to do other work -- work which hp might find more important. 

> > And is there any department within HP which would want to allocate
> 
> > budget for this product they never had ?
> 
> 
> 
> See above.  Protecting HP's IP is already part of the legal departments
> 
> job.

Depends on their priorities as to which IP to focus on, and how many lawyers they choose to have, and what their workload is, which you don't know.
 
This reminds me of when I was in graduate school in physics. We had 4 tape drives hooked up to our VAX 11/750. Three of them were not-so-great Kennedy-brand drives, and one was a TU78 (or TU77). The TU78 (or TU77) worked virtually flawlessly. It was really, really loud, though. But our part physicist part sysmgr told us not to use it except if the other 3 were busy. This is because it wasn't really ours. It was a loaner to make up for something Digital couldn't deliver on time. 

Then it was time for them to pick it up. They didn't pick it up. We had it all ready to go, called them several times and they just never came by to pick up the thing. I don't remember how long that went on. Weeks, maybe months. So we kept it. In fact, it was _their_ field person who suggested they let him hook it back up to the VAX! 

Years went by and they still didn't want the thing. It was still there and still working great when I graduated in 1991.

Bill, what would _you_ have done in this situation? Just curious.

> 
> >> No. There is no such thing in law as "implicit public domain".
> 
> > 
> 
> > If a company does not protect its IP and keeps a blind eye to breaches
> 
> > of copyright/patent infringement, it loses the right to defend that
> 
> > IP/copyright later on.
> 
> 
> 
> 1.  That is not necessarily so.  Try it and see where you end out.
> 
> 2.  It still isn't "public domain" as that is a very specific legal
> 
>     concept and the requirements are spelled out plainly in many
> 
>     places.

Hmmm. I think there is a bit of use it or lose it for at least _some_ things. Sometimes you see "Esso" stickers on Exxon gas pumps. Exxon doesn't want to lose the rights to Esso. I was told they have to do this or the name goes up for grabs. My brother-in-law's father told me of a client (or friend, perhaps) who kept paying for the right to a name for a business, even though the business closed. The guy just wants to hold on to the rights to that name. He has to pay something like $50 or $150 a year in fees. Of course I'm not talking hardware and software here. OK, you said it isn't necessarily so. Just mentioning a couple of cases where it _is_ so, AFAIK. 

> 
> 
> 
> I suggest you find a nearby college that actually offers classes on
> 
> Copyrights and Intelectual Property and that you sit in on them. The
> 
> real world is very different from the one you appear to be living in.
> 
> 
> 
> bill
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> 
> Bill Gunshannon          |  de-moc-ra-cy (di mok' ra see) n.  Three wolves
> 
> billg999 at cs.scranton.edu |  and a sheep voting on what's for dinner.
> 
> University of Scranton   |
> 
> Scranton, Pennsylvania   |         #include <std.disclaimer.h>

AEF