Date: Wed, 15 Feb 2006 15:39:37
-0800
To: "Sally Abel" <SAbel@fenwick.com>
From: Philip Gust <gust@NouveauSystems.com>
Subject: RE: Letter confirming Boeing has no ownership of
Augment
Thanks for thinking this through with me. I'll give it a
go.
I was pretty hopeful about Kathy too, but now I'm almost ready to take a
piece of blank letterhead with a signature to move forward. I
suspect we'll end up treating Augment is an orphan work, and do what we
can to show a good faith effort.
At 03:14 PM 2/15/2006, you wrote:
Hi Phil:
At this point, I doubt we will be able to get anything out of them beyond
what she said this morning. But prior to today, I did believe we
would get the below -- she said we would -- but knew she wouldn't go for
anything more detailed or expansive. I would try this, reminding
her that when she and I previously spoke she had indicated she was
willing to sign a letter that stated the below.
Sally
From: Philip Gust
[
mailto:gust@NouveauSystems.com]
Sent: Wednesday, February 15, 2006 3:09 PM
To: Sally Abel
Cc: John Toole
Subject: RE: Letter confirming Boeing has no ownership of
Augment
Thanks, Sally. I wasn't sure that was the one you were referring
to. I take it you believe her boss will likely to go along with
this version in light of her recent response. If so, I'll get it
off later today.
.
At 01:01 PM 2/15/2006, Sally Abel wrote:
Here is the text of my December
9 email to Ms. Gallagher:
Dear Kathleen:
Many thanks for your willingness to send a letter to the Computer History
Museum (CHM), on Boeing's behalf, indicating that Boeing has no existing
or continuing ownership rights or interests in the Augment software,
including (but not limited to) any copyright and/or trademark rights in
the work, and will not take any action against the CHM in connection with
any rights associated with or interests in Augment.
Please direct the letter to John Toole, Executive Director of CHM:
John Toole
Executive Director
Computer History Musuem
1401 N. Shoreline Blvd.
Mountain View CA 94043
Many thanks, and enjoy the upcoming holidays!
Sally
From: Philip Gust [
mailto:gust@NouveauSystems.com]
Sent: Wednesday, February 15, 2006 12:41 PM
To: Sally Abel
Cc: John Toole
Subject: RE: Letter confirming Boeing has no ownership of
Augment
Importance: High
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
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-----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
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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
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
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