Richard, (01)
Thanks again for working with the Computer History Museum NLS
restoration project to secure copyright releases for NLS related
material. One of our goals for this project is to ensure that the
NLS system itself and related documents and designs are preserved and
accessible for study and use by the public. (02)
There are several major collections of NLS related material,
including ones at the Computer History Museum, and at Stanford
University curated by Dr. Henry Lowood. Doug Engelbart also retains a
fully working NLS system, including source code and
documentation. These collections are extensive, and have only
recently begun to be systematically inventoried. In summary, the
material in these collections includes: (03)
1. The source code for the NLS system created by the NLS team at SRI
2. Executable instructions and documentation derived from the NLS source code.
3. System documentation, technical reports, journals and other
documents created by the NLS team at SRI
4. Designs, schematics and related material for NLS related hardware
created by the NLS team at SRI
5. Multimedia material, including video and sound recordings produced
by the NLS team at SRI. (04)
There are doubtless other smaller collections that contain similar
types of material related to the NLS system. (05)
As you know, the Copyright Act of 1976 and subsequent revisions
extended the period of copyright to include the material created by
the NLS team at SRI. In order to make the NLS system widely
accessible for study and use, we are asking copyright holders in this
material to either place it to the public domain or provide a blanket
grant for non-commercial use. Our preference would be for SRI to
dedicate whatever copyright interests it may have in this material to
the public domain for the benefit of the public at large. I would
like to propose the following, although we would be satisfied with
any similar form of dedication you propose: (06)
"SRI is the copyright holder of certain material created by the NLS
team at SRI. SRI wishes to ensure that the NLS system itself and
related documents and designs are preserved and accessible for study
and use by the public. Therefore, SRI hereby dedicates whatever
copyrights it may hold in the work of authorship of this material to
the public domain for the benefit of the public at large, including
but not limited to: (07)
1. The source code for the NLS system created by the NLS team at SRI
2. Executable instructions and documentation derived from the NLS source code.
3. System documentation, technical reports, journals and other
documents created by the NLS team at SRI
4. Designs, schematics and related material for NLS related hardware
created by the NLS team at SRI
5. Multimedia material, including video and sound recordings produced
by the NLS team at SRI. (08)
The works covered by any such copyright held by SRI may be freely
reproduced, distributed, transmitted, used, modified, built upon, or
otherwise exploited by anyone for any purpose, commercial or
non-commercial, and in any way, including by methods that have not
yet been invented or conceived. SRI makes no warranties about any
specific copyrighted material and disclaims any liability resulting
from the use of any such material." (09)
The NLS restoration team is glad to have SRI partner with us in our
effort to preserve the NLS legacy that Doug and his team created at
SRI, and look forward to helping SRI celebrate its 60th
anniversary later this year. If you need further information or
would like to discuss this further, please don't hesitate to contact me. (010)
Best regards, (011)
Philip Gust
Nouveau Systems, Inc.
3120 De La Cruz Blvd., Suite 120
Santa Clara, CA 95054 (012)
phone: +1 650 961-7992
fax: +1 520 843-7217 (013)
mailto: gust@NouveauSystems.com (014)
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 (015)
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