Subject: UCB/USL lawsuit settled

From: [email-masked] (Keith Bostic)
Date: 6 Feb 1994 19:35:05 -0800

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

	UNIX System Laboratories, Inc. and the University
of California, Berkeley have announced they have reached an
agreement resolving their disputes.  The settlement clears
the way for the University to release a new, unencumbered
version of the Berkeley 4.4 BSD operating system software,
to be called 4.4 BSD-Lite.

	Ray Noorda, Chairman of Novell, Inc., which
recently acquired USL, called the settlement an "excellent
example of what can be accomplished by cooperation between
the business and academic communities."  Mr. Noorda stated
that "the settlement permits the University to accomplish
its goals but preserves USL's legitimate interest in
protecting its intellectual property."

	David Hodges, Dean of the College of Engineering
at University of California, Berkeley, said that the
settlement "once again allows the University to resume its
leading role of providing computer software technology
transfer to industry.  By providing wide distribution of 4.4
BSD-Lite with minimal restrictions on its use, the
University will continue to be the focal point for both
software research in and commercial development of truly
open systems."

	The University of California was one of the
earliest licensees of UNIX operating system software, origi-
nally developed at AT&T's Bell Laboratories.  In the 1980s,
Berkeley's Computer Systems Research Group issued a series
of "Berkeley Software Distributions" containing
modifications to the UNIX software.  However, because of
licensing restrictions, public access to the source code for
many of those modifications has been limited to firms
holding licenses from USL, which acquired the rights to the
UNIX system from AT&T.

	In July 1991, the University issued the "Second
Networking Release," also known as Net2, which was intended
to make available to the public those portions of the
Berkeley Software Distributions which were not subject to
license restrictions.  However, USL brought a lawsuit
against the University, claiming that portions of the
release contained restricted material.  The University
denied USL's claims.  It also brought a separate action
against USL alleging that USL had violated the terms of its
Berkeley Software Distribution, also known as BSD, license
agreements by failing to give the University credit for
certain material in the UNIX release.

	Over the past several months, attorneys and
computer scientists representing the University and USL have
worked together in an effort to reach a compromise on their
disputes.  The result of these efforts will be a new,
unencumbered version of the latest Berkeley Software
Distribution called 4.4 BSD-Lite which will retain virtually
all of the functionality of the Second Networking Release
along with a number of enhancements from the University's
latest 4.4 BSD release.

	The settlement restricts further use and distri-
bution of certain files in the Second Networking Release and
requires that certain files in 4.4 BSD-Lite include a USL
copyright notice.  In addition to providing several
enhancements, the new 4.4 BSD-Lite Release will replace most
of the restricted files and incorporates all the agreed-upon
modifications and notices.  Thus, 4.4 BSD-Lite will not
require a license from nor payment of royalties to USL.  The
University strongly recommends that 4.4 BSD-Lite be substi-
tuted for Net2.

	Although it has denied the University's claims,
USL has also agreed to affix the University's copyright
notice to certain files distributed with future releases of
the UNIX system and to give credit to the University for
material derived from BSD releases which have been included
in the UNIX system.

	Copies of the source code for 4.4 BSD-Lite may be
obtained from the University at nominal cost.  Source code
copies and further information on 4.4 BSD-Lite and the
restrictions on Net2 may be obtained from the Computer
Systems Research Group at (510) 642-7780.  Information may
also be obtained from USL's licensing offices at
1-800-828-UNIX.