Sally,
Sorry if I put too much in and caused her manager to balk.
I have several email messages with different versions of the
statement.. The shortest version was in your 11/30 message after
talking with Kathy:
"I just connected with Kathy who said that she would be willing to
send a letter on behalf of Boeing indicating that it has no ongoing
rights in any of the intellectual property associated with the Augment
program and will not take any action against the museum in connection
with the museum's dissemination or use of Augment. She is
going to check with her patent guys to confirm she can say that but
doesn't see a problem. That is all we need to eliminate Boeing as a
potential problem."
Her most recent comments suggest that her boss is reluctant to approve a
statement that goes beyond documenting the transfer of the trademarks to
BT in 1989. It sounds like they're basically not willing to make a
statement regarding copyright to Augment, or whether they'd make a
statement on our use of Augment.
I could try again with the statement above, but we may only have one shot
and I'm worried they may not go for that one either at this
point.
An alternative would be a statement like the following, which at least
documents what they're currently saying. It would also provide some
degree of cover should we decide to make a case that the Augment
copyrights have been orphaned ("Report on Orphaned Works, January
2006:
http://www.copyright.gov/orphan/orphan-report-full.pdf).
"McDonnell Douglas transferred registered US trademarks 1487229 and
73256814 for AUGMENT to British Telecommunications PLC on 11/20/1989,
prior to Boeing's acquisition of McDonnell Douglas. Boeing has no
records on the software itself. Consequently, Boeing cannot make
any claim about its ownership of copyrights or other intellectual
property in the software, or take any position regarding the use of
Augment by the Computer History Museum."
Let me know what you think as soon as you can. I'd like to get back
to here again today if possible.
At 11:02 AM 2/15/2006, Sally Abel wrote:
Phil:
Try going back to the more limited language she told me she would
agree
to. It is in my email to her confirming what she agreed to provide
us
with in our earlier (and only) conversation.
She's doing a 360 on us now.
Sally
-----Original Message-----
From: Gallagher, Kathleen J
[
mailto:kathleen.j.gallagher@boeing.com]
Sent: Wednesday, February 15, 2006 10:59 AM
To: Philip Gust
Cc: John Toole; Sally Abel
Subject: RE: Letter confirming Boeing has no ownership of
Augment
Philip,
I reviewed your request with my manager. Unfortunately, I
won't be
able to provide you with the statements you've requested.
We know that the AUGMENT trademark was sold to British
Telecommunications in 1989. We have no information on the
software
itself.
I'm sorry my response could not be more positive.
Kathleen J. Gallagher, Esq.
Trademark and Copyright Counsel
The Boeing Company
2201 Seal Beach Blvd. M/C 110-SB36
Seal Beach, CA 90740
Tel: 562-797-4002
Fax: 562-797-2429
kathleen.j.gallagher@boeing.com
NOTICE: This communication may contain privileged or other
confidential
information. If you are not the intended recipient, or if you
believe
that you have received this communication in error, please do not
print,
retransmit, disseminate, or otherwise use the information. Also,
please
indicate to the sender that you have received this e-mail in error,
and
delete the copy you received. Thank you.
-----Original Message-----
From: Philip Gust
[
mailto:gust@NouveauSystems.com]
Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2006 12:25 PM
To: Gallagher, Kathleen J
Cc: John Toole; Sally Abel
Subject: Letter confirming Boeing has no ownership of Augment
Kathy,
Thanks so much for taking my call today. I know how busy you are
and
hope this will take only a few minutes.
We'd appreciate your taking a few minutes to send something to the
Computer History Museum confirming that Boeing has no ownership
rights
or interests in the Augment software. This will be a big help to us
as
we trace and document the chain of ownership, and make this
historically
important system available on a non-commercial basis for historians,
engineers, and computer scientists to study.
If you are able to have someone print the statement at the end of
this
message on Boeing letterhead, please address it to
John Toole
Executive Director
Computer History Museum
1401 N. Shoreline Blvd.
Mountain View CA 94043
Otherwise, simply copy and paste this statement into an email to
John,
and CC Sally Abel and me.
"As far as we can ascertain, Augment was part of the assets sold to
a
division of British Telecom. We were not able to locate the
deal
documents, however I spoke to someone in the company who was involved
in
the sale to BT who says all rights transferred to BT. Also, USPTO
records indicate that the registered trademark 1487229 for AUGMENT,
owned by McDonnell Douglas Corporation, was transferred to British
Telecommunications PLC on 11/20/1989.
"Consequently, I believe that Boeing has no existing or
continuing
ownership rights or interests in the Augment software system,
including,
but not limited to, any copyright and/or trademark rights in the
work,
and would not take action against the Computer History Museum in
connection with any rights associated with or interests in Augment.
Boeing makes no representation or warranty as to the facts of this
matter, or any such use that the Computer History Museum many of
Augment."
Thanks again, and I hope your department gets some additional
resources
very soon.
Best regards,
Philip Gust
Nouveau Systems, Inc.
phone: +1 650 961-7992
fax: +1 520 843-7217
mailto: gust@NouveauSystems.com
--------------------------------------------------------
IRS Circular 230 Disclosure: To ensure compliance with
requirements imposed by the IRS, we inform you that any U.S. federal tax
advice in this communication (including attachments) is not intended or
written by Fenwick & West LLP to be used, and cannot be used, for the
purpose of (i) avoiding penalties under the Internal Revenue Code or (ii)
promoting, marketing, or recommending to another party any transaction or
matter addressed herein.
--------------------------------------------------------
ATTENTION:
The information contained in this message may be legally privileged and
confidential. It is intended to be read only by the individual or
entity to whom it is addressed or by their designee. If the reader of
this message is not the intended recipient, you are on notice that any
distribution of this message, in any form, is strictly prohibited.
If you have received this message in error, please immediately notify the
sender and/or Fenwick & West LLP by telephone at (650) 988-8500 and
delete or destroy any copy of this message.
Philip Gust
Nouveau Systems, Inc.
phone: +1 650 961-7992
fax: +1 520 843-7217
mailto: gust@NouveauSystems.com
_________________________________________________________________
Message Archives: http://chm.cim3.net/forum/nls-legal/
Shared Files: http://chm.cim3.net/file/work/project/nls-restore/
Community Portal: http://www.computerhistory.org/
To Post: mailto:nls-legal@chm.cim3.net
Community Wiki: http://chm.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?NLS_Restoration (01)
|