On Dennis Ritchie, UNIX and Trademarks

In the mid 1990, I came to know of a fungicide being sold under the UNIX name.

At the time, I was working in Saudi Arabia for AT&T after its acquisition of NCR, and the general manager called me in to ask about this matter.

I told him that from what I know, trademark law does not cross domains. This means the use of UNIX in domains other than computers is permitted.

I send that info to the late Dennis Ritchie, the father of UNIX, and he put it on his site under Other UNIXes.

I exchanged a few emails with him about UNIX, NCR Bell Labs, and a piece he wrote when AT&T sold UNIX quoting the biblical story of selling birth right for lentils.

He was polite, and down to earth.