Phil, (01)
Just to keep you in the loop, here is the contact info that I was able
to get from my friend. I'll send off a starter message to Anne Cornelius
and then we can see what she says. (02)
Jonathan (03)
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: legal contact at MCI/Verizon
Date: Tue, 31 Jan 2006 22:24:35 -0500
From: Michael Chernoff <michaelchernoff@gmail.com>
To: Jonathan Cheyer <jonathan@cheyer.biz>
References: <BAY115-F38F34795FFABBDD9B15742B5150@phx.gbl>
<43D94719.5090402@cheyer.biz> (04)
Jon, (05)
I did a little homework and found out that you need to write to Anne
Cornelius who is the head of the MCI copyright division. Her email
address is anne.cornelius@mci.com <mailto:anne.cornelius@mci.com>. Feel
free to mention my name as the person who suggested that you contact her
(for context). (06)
Anne asked that you provide her with as much detail as possible so she
understands the entire story and exactly what is being requested of
MCI/Verizon. (07)
I hope this helps. Please let me know if there is any other way I can help. (08)
-Michael (09)
On 1/26/06, *Jonathan Cheyer* <jonathan@cheyer.biz
<mailto:jonathan@cheyer.biz>> wrote: (010)
Thanks, it's much appreciated. I've got additional details that I can
provide, if necessary, that would help them to get started with a
search. (011)
Jonathan (012)
Michael Chernoff wrote:
>
> Jon,
>
> I still have a few friends there, so I'll make a few calls for
ya. I'll
> let you know if I can get a contact for you.
>
> -Michael
>
>> From: Jonathan Cheyer < jonathan@cheyer.biz
<mailto:jonathan@cheyer.biz>>
>> To: Michael Chernoff <michaelchernoff@hotmail.com
<mailto:michaelchernoff@hotmail.com>>
>> Subject: legal contact at MCI/Verizon
>> Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2006 00:18:07 -0800
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>>
>> Hi Michael,
>>
>> I have a favor to ask. I've been doing volunteer work at the
Computer
>> History Museum (CHM). The goal of the project I'm working on is to
>> preserve software written by Doug Engelbart (inventor of the mouse)
>> and his team at SRI (starting in the mid-1960s and going up
until 1989
>> or so).
>>
>> The technical part of the project is going well so far.
Unfortunately,
>> the legal part is going much more slowly. The CHM is trying to
obtain
>> rights for all software related to the project, or at least obtain
>> approval from the copyright owner to make the software available to
>> the public for the purposes of archival and historical interest.
>> (There has been no commercial interest in this software for well
over
>> 15 years.)
>>
>> It's been a long, drawn-out process trying to track down who the
>> actual copyright owner is (almost a solid year of effort
already). The
>> chain goes something like this: SRI sold the rights to a company
named
>> Tymshare in 1977, which was eventually bought by McDonnell Douglas,
>> which itself was acquired by Boeing. Boeing sold off various
business
>> units, including (possibly) the one that owned this software, to
>> British Telecom. The software is not listed in any asset listings.
>> British Telecom thinks they may have sold the software as part of
>> another business unit that they sold to WorldCom, around 1994, but
>> again no asset listing. No one actually seems to know who owns the
>> software, and the previous owners were not even fully aware that
they
>> ever owned it.
>>
>> The CHM is trying to tie up the loose ends with Boeing and
WorldCom to
>> give us something in writing that states that each believe they no
>> longer own copyright, patent, or trademark rights on NLS (the name
>> during SRI years) or Augment (the name used in Tymshare and later
>> years). (Trademark rights have expired for those names, at least
>> according to my trademark search online, but of course patent and
>> copyright rights last much longer.)
>>
>> Now we have the difficult task of trying to find a legal contact in
>> WorldCom/MCI/Verizon to track down if Verizon is indeed the current
>> legal owner of this software, so that we can attempt to convince
them
>> to hopefully obtain at least approval to use (or ideally a
quitclaim
>> or other type of transfer).
>>
>> Do you have any close legal contacts still at MCI from when you
were
>> there who might have a chance of being able to help chase down the
>> ownership? If you can put me in touch with them and give me an
>> introduction, I can take it from there.
>>
>> Hope all is well with you, Jodi, and Ryan.
>>
>> --Jon
>
>
> (013)
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