Thanks, Larry. I'd value your input and comments, and appreciate
your interest in this. (01)
At 05:29 PM 3/17/2006, Lawrence Lessig wrote:
>I'd be happy to direct it to the right legislators. I would just
>publish it on the web, and then let the community spread it where it
>needs to go. I'd be happy to review a draft when you've got something
>you like.
>On Mar 17, 2006, at 1:50 PM, Philip Gust wrote:
>
>>Larry,
>>
>>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?
>>
>>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.
>>
>>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.
>>
>>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]
>>
>>
>>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 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
>>
>>
>
>-----
>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]
> (02)
Philip Gust
Nouveau Systems, Inc.
3120 De La Cruz Blvd., Suite 120
Santa Clara, CA 95054 (03)
phone: +1 650 961-7992
fax: +1 520 843-7217 (04)
mailto: gust@NouveauSystems.com (05)
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 (06)
_________________________________________________________________
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 (07)
|