Editing Unix System Laboratories (section)

== Partial spinoff from AT&T ==
[[Image:Unix System Laboratories presentation folder.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.7|USL presentation folder, made starting 1991]]
In April 1991, USL became partly independent of AT&T when about 22&nbsp;percent of it, worth about $65 million, was sold to eleven outside computer vendors: [[Amdahl Corporation|Amdahl]], [[Motorola]], Novell, Sun, [[International Computers Limited|ICL]], [[Olivetti]], [[Fujitsu]], [[NEC]], [[Oki Electric Industry|OKI Electric]], [[Toshiba]], and the [[Institute for Information Industry]].<ref name="cw-selloff">{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D8pyWaTBzyoC&pg=PA12 | title=AT&T's Unix sell-off won't sway OSF | first=Johanna | last=Ambrosio | newspaper=Computerworld | date=April 8, 1991 | page=12 | access-date=March 28, 2021 | archive-date=March 28, 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210328062612/https://books.google.com/books?id=D8pyWaTBzyoC&pg=PA12 | url-status=live }}</ref>  There was a stated goal to lessen the control AT&T had over Unix, which would lead to  USL becoming a publicly owned company within three years.<ref name="cw-selloff"/>
An AT&T executive said, "AT&T is convinced that the best way to nurture the growth of the open systems movement and to share into it ourselves is to establish an independent Unix Systems Laboratory with the technical guidance of Unix International and the business advice of investors who will ensure that USL is run properly and profitably."<ref name="nw-knowhow"/>

By this point USL had some 500&nbsp;employees, 2400&nbsp;customers, and annual revenue around the $100&nbsp;million mark.<ref name="cw-selloff"/>  AT&T said that USL had been profitable since its inception in 1989.<ref name="cw-selloff"/>

USL got a new president and CEO in November 1991 when Dooling was replaced by the Dutchman [[Roel Pieper]], formerly chief technical officer of [[Software AG]].<ref name="cwde-roel">{{cite news | url=https://www.computerwoche.de/a/roel-pieper-ist-neuer-chef-der-usl,1143313 | title=Roel Pieper ist neuer Chef der USL | newspaper=Computerwoche von IDG | date=December 6, 1991 | language=de | access-date=March 28, 2021 | archive-date=March 28, 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210328062608/https://www.computerwoche.de/a/roel-pieper-ist-neuer-chef-der-usl,1143313 | url-status=live }}</ref>

USL was aggressive in defending its perceived intellectual property rights, initiating as the plaintiff a lawsuit in 1992 against [[Berkeley Software Design]] makers of  and the [[Regents of the University of California]] over copyrights and trademarks related to Unix.<ref name="ieee-unix">{{cite news | url=https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-strange-birth-and-long-life-of-unix | title=The Strange Birth and Long Life of Unix | date=November 28, 2011 | first=Warren | last=Toomey | magazine=IEEE Spectrum | access-date=March 28, 2021 | archive-date=March 14, 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210314190817/https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-history/cyberspace/the-strange-birth-and-long-life-of-unix | url-status=live }}</ref>  The case was known as ''[[UNIX System Laboratories, Inc. v. Berkeley Software Design, Inc.]]'' and in it USL asked the court for a [[preliminary injunction]] that would bar the Berkeley firm and the university from distributing their [[Net/2]] operating system release, which was implied to be Unix, until the case was concluded.<ref name="conn"/>  In response the university filed a countersuit against AT&T for alleged breaches in the licensing agreement the two parties had.<ref name="ieee-unix"/>  (The case was settled out of court in January 1994.<ref name="conn">{{cite web | url=https://opencommons.uconn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://scholar.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1009&context=libr_pubs | title=Open Source Software: A History | first=David | last=Bretthauer | publisher=University of Connecticut | date=December 26, 2001 | access-date=March 28, 2021 | archive-date=December 2, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201202033619/https://opencommons.uconn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https%3A%2F%2Fscholar.google.com%2F&httpsredir=1&article=1009&context=libr_pubs | url-status=live }}</ref>)