nls-legal
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Re: [nls-legal] Augment

To: "Sally Abel" <SAbel@fenwick.com>
Cc: toole@computerhistory.org, nls-legal@chm.cim3.net
From: Philip Gust <gust@NouveauSystems.com>
Date: Wed, 30 Nov 2005 14:17:29 -0800
Message-id: <7.0.0.15.2.20051130141634.05ad7e80@NouveauSystems.com>
Sally,    (01)

I was just checking back again to see if you have any information 
about recontacting Kathy Gallagher.    (02)

At 09:07 AM 11/23/2005, Philip Gust wrote:
>Sally,
>
>I wanted to check back with you to see if you were able to reach 
>Kathy Gallagher, and to find out whether she would be willing to 
>send us a memorandum like the one I suggested.  I'll be in the 
>office today until mid-afternoon in case you need to reach me.
>
>At 09:30 AM 11/18/2005, Philip Gust wrote:
>>Sally,
>>
>>Let me suggest that you ask Kathy Gallagher to put into a 
>>memorandum what she has stated to you for our records, namely that:
>>
>>1. In her opinion Boeing assigned all its rights in Augment to BT
>>2. Boeing transferred its trademark Augment trademark to BT
>>3. Although the deal documents appear to be lost a someone in the 
>>company who was involved with the sale to BT has told her the 
>>rights were transferred to BT. <<ASK HER TO INCLUDE THAT PERSON'S 
>>NAME AND POSITION IN THIS MEMORANDUM>>
>>4. Boeing disclaims any interest in Augment trademarks, copyrights, 
>>or patents
>>5. Boeing has no intent of pursing legal action as a result any 
>>dissemination or use of Augment
>>
>>I think that if we act relying on such a memorandum, we'll be well 
>>enough covered.  And as a practical matter, it's the best we're 
>>likely to get.
>>
>>Please let me know if you agree with this course of action, and if 
>>so please ask Kathy for such a memorandum.  If you think it would 
>>make things easier, perhaps we could draft the memorandum (once we 
>>have the missing name of the person Kathy talked with) and simply 
>>get her to approve and sign it.
>>
>>Best regards,
>>
>>At 04:28 PM 11/17/2005, Sally Abel wrote:
>>>Phil and John:
>>>
>>>Just had a long talk with Kathy Gallagher, the in-house lawyer at
>>>Boeing.  She adamantly refuses to have Boeing execute a quit claim as to
>>>either the copyright or the trademarks because she is convinced that
>>>Boeing assigned all of those rights to BT (who may have since assigned
>>>the rights to Sprint).  She bases her understanding on the fact that,
>>>though the deal documents appear to be lost,  she did see a trademark
>>>assignment from Boeing to BT, and there is someone in the company who
>>>was involved in the sale to BT who says all rights transferred to BT.
>>>Kathy indicated that she would be willing to sign a quit claim if the
>>>company thought it might have residual rights but since it does not
>>>believe it has any rights, she believes it would be bad faith on
>>>Boeing's part to sign anything, despite my suggestion that the quit
>>>claim be worded as "we don't think we own anything, but if we do we
>>>assign whatever it is to you".  She made the point that Boeing has no
>>>intent of ever coming after the Museum for using the software/marks.
>>>
>>>So at this point it looks like we need to pursue the BT connection.  I
>>>will try to find out who is currently in-house trademark counsel there
>>>(that person might also be responsible for copyrights, or would know who
>>>is).  I took a quick look at the US and EC trademark registries and did
>>>not see any current trademark registrations for AUGMENT.  If we really
>>>are concerned about the trademark side, we might think about filing our
>>>own application in the EC, where rights are based on first to file (as
>>>opposed to first to use), but per Phil's mail below apparently we truly
>>>only care about the copyright issue going forward (this was news to me).
>>>
>>>Finally, I have marked up the draft quit claim to include both a
>>>copyright and a trademark assignment should we ultimately find the right
>>>party.....
>>>
>>>Sally
>>>
>>>-----Original Message-----
>>>From: Philip Gust [mailto:gust@NouveauSystems.com]
>>>Sent: Thursday, November 17, 2005 3:10 PM
>>>To: Sally Abel
>>>Cc: toole@computerhistory.org; nls-legal@chm.cim3.net
>>>Subject: RE: Augment
>>>
>>>Sally,
>>>
>>>The issues isn't trademarks.  We've pretty well put that one to bed by
>>>establishing that all trademarks are dead.  The issue is copyrights to
>>>Augment.  Your recommendation on getting both Boeing and BT to quitclaim
>>>any interest in those copyrights to CHM seems like the right way to go.
>>>I spoke with John Toole about this yesterday evening, and we both agree
>>>we can't make our Augment work available to the community until we've
>>>completed this process.  The technical group has made fantastic
>>>progress, to the point that this legal issues will be a bottleneck
>>>fairly soon.
>>>
>>>
>>>At 02:32 PM 11/17/2005, Sally Abel wrote:
>>> >Dear Phil:
>>> >
>>> >Thanks for the below, and apologies for the radio silence.  I was out
>>> >of state all last week and have been digging out ever since.  I left
>>> >you what likely was a cryptic message last night, when I was able to
>>> >pick up your message about the Software Project meeting, but likely you
>>>
>>> >received the message too late for the meeting.  What I was trying to
>>> >convey was though we do not yet have the assignment in place (and even
>>> >may never get it) that doesn't mean that the project cannot move ahead.
>>>
>>> >We do not need to own the mark in the name of the software in order to
>>> >be able to use the software and refer to it by its actual name.  This
>>> >would be a fair use independent of the question of who owns the mark.
>>> >Of course, I am assuming we are not actually going to market software
>>> >under the name, but will simply refer to the software in the context of
>>>
>>> >our museum activities.
>>> >
>>> >The below is very helpful with regard to BT.  I too formerly had a
>>> >contact at BT, and can always connect with their current inhouse
>>> >trademark lawyer(s) if Scott comes up empty handed.  Let me know.
>>> >
>>> >I am calling Al Poskanzer now, and will let you know when I have
>>> >anything further from him.  Let's get together and celebrate (or
>>> >commiserate) when we have Boeing's buy in.
>>> >
>>> >Looking forward to getting together,
>>> >
>>> >Sally
>>> >
>>> >-----Original Message-----
>>> >From: Philip Gust [mailto:gust@NouveauSystems.com]
>>> >Sent: Saturday, November 12, 2005 5:43 PM
>>> >To: Sally Abel
>>> >Cc: nls-legal@chm.cim3.net
>>> >Subject:
>>> >
>>> >Sally,
>>> >
>>> >I want to follow up with you about approaching Boeing and BT about
>>> >executing a quitclaim for Augment copyrights in favor of the Computer
>>> >History Museum.
>>> >
>>> >I spoke with Scott Griffin, Boeing's CIO, on Friday and asked for his
>>> >help identifying the right people at BT to approach about this.  He
>>> >thinks that BT is the most likely current owner of any copyrights.  It
>>> >turns out that Scott actually knew the person at BT who may have been
>>> >involved, but he unfortunately died a few years back, and Scott doesn't
>>>
>>> >have any other personal contacts he can call on.  He said, however,
>>> >that he'd see who he can locate and get back to us.
>>> >
>>> >Scott also mentioned that Al Poskanzer, who you've been dealing with,
>>> >works for a peer of Scott's.  Scott is a big supporter of this project,
>>>
>>> >and when I had mentioned the idea of a quitclaim, he thought it was a
>>> >sensible approach. Scott he'd brief his peer about the project and
>>> >encourage him to have Al work with us to get it done as quickly as
>>> >possible.
>>> >
>>> >So I think the pump is primed to go back to Boeing, and I'll let you
>>> >know whether Scott's leads or any others we're pursing go anywhere.
>>> >Please let me know how soon you'll be able to restart discussions with
>>> >Al, and whether I can do anything to help.  If you want to meet some
>>> >time to get acquainted, Nouveau System's offices are less than 3
>>> >minutes away on Evelyn Avenue, near Highway 85, and I could bounce over
>>>
>>> >or meet you somewhere in Mt. View.
>>> >
>>> >By the way, I belong to a CEO group called the CEO Network, and Fenwick
>>>
>>> >is a sponsor of the group through Fred Greguras.  We meet at Fenwick's
>>> >Mt. View offices monthly. Small world...
>>> >
>>> >Best regards,
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >Philip Gust
>>> >Nouveau Systems, Inc.
>>> >
>>> >phone: +1 650 961-7992
>>> >fax:   +1 520 843-7217
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >mailto: gust@NouveauSystems.com
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>>>
>>>
>>>Philip Gust
>>>Nouveau Systems, Inc.
>>>
>>>phone: +1 650 961-7992
>>>fax:   +1 520 843-7217
>>>
>>>
>>>mailto: gust@NouveauSystems.com
>>>--------------------------------------------------------
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>>>IRS Circular 230  Disclosure:  To ensure compliance with 
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>>
>>
>>Philip Gust
>>Nouveau Systems, Inc.
>>
>>phone: +1 650 961-7992
>>fax:   +1 520 843-7217
>>
>>
>>mailto: gust@NouveauSystems.com
>
>
>Philip Gust
>Nouveau Systems, Inc.
>
>phone: +1 650 961-7992
>fax:   +1 520 843-7217
>
>
>mailto: gust@NouveauSystems.com    (03)


Philip Gust
Nouveau Systems, Inc.    (04)

phone: +1 650 961-7992
fax:   +1 520 843-7217    (05)


mailto: gust@NouveauSystems.com     (06)



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