Larry, (01)
We're about to write up an executive version for the legal committee
of CHM, as part of a whitepaper recommending a policy for how CHM
should handle orphan works. We'd also like to write a briefing for
key legislators who are concerned with this issue. Could you
recommend a few places where we could publish a case study, or
legislators that we should target? (02)
Since I wrote to you, Boeing fell into line, and we received a
release from them. Vint Cerf thinks it's likely he'll be able to get
one from MCI using our background research, and Kurt Carlson at SRI
seems willing to provide one for their part. We're hoping to make a
public release of NLS/Augment software and documents in time for
SRI's 60th anniversary in October. (03)
If you'd be interested in providing input to or commenting on the
recommendations we make to the CHM legal committee, we'd welcome your
experience. (04)
At 07:49 AM 3/17/2006, you wrote:
>Thanks for your email. This is an important problem, and you're
>describing a perfect example of why this a problem. Have you written
>this problem up for publication somewhere?
>On Mar 15, 2006, at 12:44 PM, Philip Gust wrote:
>
>>Larry,
>>
>>I'm a volunteer at the Computer History Museum (CHM), on the
>>Software Collection Committee. The committee was formed to develop
>>techniques for collecting software, as the museum currently does
>>with hardware and other artifacts. I'm leading one of the testbed
>>projects, to preserve Doug Englebart's NLS/Augment system. Henry
>>Lowood, the Curator for History of Science and Technology
>>Collections at Stanford is an advisory member of the project. Doug
>>Engelbart is also directly involved in this project.
>>
>>I'm working on the legal aspects, and was very interested in what
>>you had to say about orphan works in your blog. NLS/Augment was a
>>seminal system, and we'd like to release not only NLS/Augment
>>documents but also the code itself to the community for study on a
>>non-commercial basis. Up to now, we've been are holding off until
>>we can track ownership and get a release from the current copyright
>>holder. This has proved more difficult than we ever imagined.
>>
>>NLS/Augment was originally developed at SRI in the late 1960s
>>through the late 1970s. It was subsequently sold to Tymnet/
>>Tymshare, and eventually to McDonnell Douglas. We believe from
>>copyright records that McDonnell Douglas sold it to British Telcom
>>before they were acquired by Boeing, and that BT subsequently sold
>>it to MCI (now Verizon).
>>
>>We've spent over a year on this so far. Our plan was to contact
>>each company along the way, establish whether they have ownership
>>and records of ownership transfer, and eventually locate the
>>current owner. It's been long enough ago, and with so many
>>acquisitions, that we've found no one has a record of ownership. In
>>light of that, our approach has been to get some kind of quitclaim
>>or statement of non-ownership and release.
>>
>>So far, we have a release from BT to the effect that they don't
>>have a record of their ownership but have no problem for their part
>>in releasing all of the copyrighted material for non-commercial
>>use. We were working with Lew Platt, Chairman of the Board at
>>Boeing and a CHM friend, who seemed willing to provide a similar
>>release. With his recent, untimely death, the legal group at
>>Boeing has turned cold to the idea of a release, and we may be at a
>>dead end there. We're in the early stages of working with a semior
>>IP attorney at MCI/Verizon, and have managed to enlist the help of
>>Vint Cerf', another CHM friend and former MCI vice president, to
>>help open doors there. If we run into what we did at Boeing, we'd
>>be pretty much at the end of the trail.
>>
>>John Toole, the CEO of CHM rightly points out that this is not a
>>scalable approach for other test bed projects in our committee, let
>>alone ones that the museum staff might undertake in the future.
>>Even with this project, we'll have to assess the risks of declaring
>>the work to be orphaned and release it, even with our paper trail
>>and all our diligence over the last year. The problem is that
>>orphaned works aren't currently recognized under copyright law. We
>>think this project could be a poster child for those advocating
>>such legislation.
>>
>>I'd be interested in meeting with you some time in the next few
>>weeks to get your input on this project's situation and more
>>generally on the impact of orphan works on academic and
>>preservation efforts like ours. Please let me know if this is
>>something you'd be interested in discussing further, and whether
>>you'd be willing to provide some input and guidance to us in this
>>area.
>>
>>Best regards,
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>Philip Gust
>>Nouveau Systems, Inc.
>>3120 De La Cruz Blvd., Suite 120
>>Santa Clara, CA 95054
>>
>>phone: +1 650 961-7992
>>fax: +1 520 843-7217
>>
>>mailto: gust@NouveauSystems.com
>>
>>Nouveau Systems collaboration-enabled infrastructure and
>>applications provide integrated information management, process
>>automation and knowledge capture. To learn how Nouveau Systems
>>products can help your knowledge-based organization drive
>>innovation, visit: http://www.NouveauSystems.com
>>
>>
>>
>
>-----
>Lessig
>Stanford Law School
>559 Nathan Abbott Way
>Stanford, CA 94305-8610
>650.736.0999 (vx)
>650.723.8440 (fx)
>
> Ass't: Elaine Adolfo <mailto:a2lessig@pobox.com>
><http://lessig.org> [on the web]
><http://lessig.org/blog> [comments in general]
><http://free-culture.org> [my latest book]
><http://creativecommons.org> [our project to free culture]
><http://publicknowledge.org> [framing policy in DC]
><http://eff.org> [fighting for truth, etc.]
><http://plos.org> [freeing science]
> (05)
Philip Gust
Nouveau Systems, Inc.
3120 De La Cruz Blvd., Suite 120
Santa Clara, CA 95054 (06)
phone: +1 650 961-7992
fax: +1 520 843-7217 (07)
mailto: gust@NouveauSystems.com (08)
Nouveau Systems products seamlessly integrate collaboration,
information management, processes automation, and capture of
mission-critical knowledge. To learn how Nouveau Systems products
can help your organization drive innovation, visit:
http://www.NouveauSystems.com (09)
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