🚀 go-pugleaf

In <1991Jul16.032523.3653@edsr.eds.com> cheeks@tantalum.eds.com (Mark Costlow) writes:
>In article <gnusenet9107131607.AA14833@mole.gnu.ai.mit.edu> rms@gnu.ai.mit.edu (Richard Stallman) writes:
>>US patent number 4,956,809 covers using a single standard byte
>>ordering for transfer of data between machines whose normal byte
>>ordering is different.
>>
>...

>I suspect many of you will be as shocked as I was to learn that the
>Assignee (owner) of this patent is Mark Williams Company.  I'm fairly
>certain that this is the same Mark Williams which markets an incredibly
>cheap UNIX clone (Coherent), and (if I remember correctly) once donated
>an Atari ST-based C compiler to the public domain.  [The patent text
>explicitly mentions Coherent in many places, and that's the only Mark
>Williams Company I know of].

I heard about this patent from rms a few days ago, and was quite shocked
that anyone could patent such a thing.  Today I just learned that Mark
Williams is the owner of the patent.

I have been curator of the coherent ftp archives for about a year now.  This
is a valuable resource which many have used regularly.  However, I am very
uncomfortable about supporting the archives when the product's producer is
owner of such a patent.

As such, I regrettably announce that if Mark Williams Company enforces this
patent, I will close the coherent ftp archives on piggy.ucsb.edu
immediately.  This may seem like harsh action to some, but I feel strongly
that this patent is utterly ridiculous, and refuse to support the company in
any way.  If anybody hears of them enforcing this patent, please let me know 
by email, or announcement in the gnu.misc.discuss or comp.os.coherent forums.  

I would also urge everyone opposed to their enforcing the patent to let Mark
Williams know what you think of it!  The email address and fax number I know
of are:

mwc!sales@uunet.uu.net
(708) 291-6750 (fax)

Hopefully someone can post the postal address and voice number.

A boycott of their products may also be in order if they start enforcing the
patent.

                            Jim Lick		       
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