Remembering Paul Fillinich and Licensing C++ from AT&T

[Walter Bright]

[An early lesson in the advantages of Open Source}

I was sad to hear that Paul Fillinich, an intellectual property lawyer for AT&T, 
passed away in 2020. I doubt many people are aware of his contribution to the 
success of C++.

Back in 1987 or so, C++ and Objective-C were neck-and-neck in the race to create 
a better C. I was interested in gaining a competitive edge for my C compiler 
(Zortech), and wondered which horse to get on. Stepstone owned Objective-C, and 
had some onerous licensing terms for it. But C++? I made some phone calls, and 
finally discovered that Paul Fillinich was in charge of IP at AT&T. I contacted 
him and asked:

1. can I get a license to create a C++ compiler?

2. can I call it C++?

Paul laughed. He said nobody had ever asked him a question like this in advance, 
they usually just went ahead and did things hoping nobody would notice. (Of 
course, being AT&T's IP lawyer, he did notice.)

Paul said sure, go ahead. You don't need a license from AT&T, and AT&T didn't 
trademark C++.

I owe him a large debt of gratitude, and so does the C++ community. Paul was one 
of the good guys.

This enabled a thriving ecosystem for C++, and we all know what happened to 
Objective-C.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36374340