This is very OT, and its just a request. It has to do with Ashton Tate Framework 2/PC World contest

[sln]

Sorry to post this here, but I only posted this here
so ignore if you don't know. This if very OT for a Perl
group.

I'm one of those people who used to enter contest's
and mail my code in for evaluation. I had different code
programs mailed into different people. Back then I didn't
really know better.

In the mid-80's I had the oppertunity to have exposure
to many different programming envivonments. And I was
paid very nicely.

I programmed a piece called "Action Memo", with things
called "Action Items", for a database.

It was very complex for those days. I have the aged
green/white gigantic printouts of the source at my home
that can be dated.

The program was written in FW II (aka: FrameWork 2 by Ashton Tate)
It was a macro language called "Fred", extremely complex in its
potential (and I used it all).

I created a program called "Action Memo", it was undefined as
to what action memo was back then. I just hoofed it and made it
into a timed database of full faced records that were directed
to time relavent sources. Each memo was full face sheet editable,
complete with fields and time critical dependancies.

I phrased each item as an "Action Item". The database was of
action items. There was a complete management system for it.

This was in 1984, for the Las Vegas computer convention where
I enterred this for.

This was an extremely complex Framework 2 macro program. It was
all code.

I enterred the contest, Ashton Tate/PC World, mailed in the
entire source with doc's (as was required).

Lo an behold I won second place amongst 60 contestants worldwide.

No article was written about me, no mention of the program, no
nothing.

However, I won. I got my choice of $600 (back then) software.
I didn't wan't any but I picked the full package of DBase III.
A 1 foot square qube of software and documentation (mostly doces)
that still to this day sits out in my garage unopened.

It was recently brought to my attention, that my phrases,
my software phrase descriptions and in particular "Action Memo",
"Action Item's" are used heavily in contact management software
programs.

If the usage in terms did not happen to coincide with the exact
software functionality, I would have not cared, however it is
what I invented exactly!

I feel like Nicholas Tesla in that he invented the radio, but
Marconi got credit (patents were reversed for Tesla).

Yeah, I wrote it on a napkin with Framework 2 (Fred) but I wrote
it FIRST and I got proof. The entire construct was stolen from me.


Lotus owes me big time royalties..........

I am the inventor of Action Memo and Action Item construct's !!!!

If you think I am telling the truth, and I am, any lawyers out there
willing to take up my case?

I have not been to a lawyer. I have all the documents from Ashton Tate
for validation, as well as all the source that can be dated.


Thanks,

sln

 

[Michael Carman]

Lotus owes me big time royalties..........

I am the inventor of Action Memo and Action Item construct's !!!!

If you think I am telling the truth, and I am, any lawyers out there
willing to take up my case?

Do you even have a case? Did the contest rules say anything about
copyright? e.g. that you retained it, or that they were free to do
whatever they wanted with entries? It wouldn't surprise me if it had
wording indicating the latter.

-mjc

 

[Charlton Wilbur]

sln> It was recently brought to my attention, that my phrases, my
sln> software phrase descriptions and in particular "Action Memo",
sln> "Action Item's" are used heavily in contact management software
sln> programs.

sln> If the usage in terms did not happen to coincide with the exact
sln> software functionality, I would have not cared, however it is
sln> what I invented exactly!

"Action item" is as a management term of art. It is highly doubtful
that your use of the term was the first, let alone that all the other
uses of it were inspired by you.

sln> If you think I am telling the truth, and I am, any lawyers out
sln> there willing to take up my case?

I think a lawyer would tell you that unless you trademarked the term,
you're out of luck. But I am not a lawyer, and I offer you my advice
for free, rather than for hundreds of dollars an hour.

Charlton

 

[Tad J McClellan]

Sorry to post this here, but I only posted this here
so ignore if you don't know. This if very OT for a Perl
group.

You will get more help if you posted to a newsgroup where
it _was_ on topic...

I am the inventor of Action Memo and Action Item construct's !!!!

If you think I am telling the truth, and I am, any lawyers out there
willing to take up my case?

I have not been to a lawyer. I have all the documents from Ashton Tate
for validation, as well as all the source that can be dated.

Intellectual property lawyers hang out in:

misc.int-property

 

[John W Kennedy]

It was recently brought to my attention, that my phrases,
my software phrase descriptions and in particular "Action Memo",
"Action Item's" are used heavily in contact management software
programs.

A mere name is neither patentable nor copyrightable. It can be
trademarked, but you have made no attempt to do so. If you go to a
lawyer with this story, he will laugh at you and then bill you about
€350 for wasting his time.

 

[sln]

Do you even have a case? Did the contest rules say anything about
copyright? e.g. that you retained it, or that they were free to do
whatever they wanted with entries? It wouldn't surprise me if it had
wording indicating the latter.

-mjc

This is a good point, didn't see anything about copyright at any time,
nor notified as of what you said about rules.

Personally, I have never seen a rule that says you give up your copyright
to software ever. If you do, the supreme court will not rule in your favor.
Whitniss China..

Btw, I posted a word doc with scans from the actual communication with Ashton-Tate,
along with some real evidence of truth of my claims. Posted in the outer level.

Thanks,

sln

 

[sln]

sln> It was recently brought to my attention, that my phrases, my
sln> software phrase descriptions and in particular "Action Memo",
sln> "Action Item's" are used heavily in contact management software
sln> programs.

sln> If the usage in terms did not happen to coincide with the exact
sln> software functionality, I would have not cared, however it is
sln> what I invented exactly!

"Action item" is as a management term of art. It is highly doubtful
that your use of the term was the first, let alone that all the other
uses of it were inspired by you.

sln> If you think I am telling the truth, and I am, any lawyers out
sln> there willing to take up my case?

I think a lawyer would tell you that unless you trademarked the term,
you're out of luck. But I am not a lawyer, and I offer you my advice
for free, rather than for hundreds of dollars an hour.

Charlton

Thank you for your responce, I appretiate it.

::"Action item" is as a management term of art.

As well as "Action Memo". I thank you for this praise.
I am the artist who invented it.

I've posted a word doc on the outer level that contains
scans that corroborate my inventions.

Thanks,

sln

 

[sln]

You will get more help if you posted to a newsgroup where
it _was_ on topic...




Intellectual property lawyers hang out in:

misc.int-property

I am sorry for being OT here. It won't happen again.
Thank you, Havn't checked that ng but, I may hang for a day watching.

sln

 

[sln]

A mere name is neither patentable nor copyrightable. It can be
trademarked, but you have made no attempt to do so. If you go to a
lawyer with this story, he will laugh at you and then bill you about
€350 for wasting his time.

Thanks for your response. Along with the terms you mention, in fact,
I wrote a program with a copyright label, that depicted exactly, the
modern day functions of Action Memo/Item's used in many software titles
today, including Lotus Notes. On the outer level, I've poste a word doc
with some scans. They provide simple evidence. In reality, I've got a
stack of printouts 6 inches thick.

For the corporate world, I guess the terms were too good to substitute.

sln

 

[sln]

On Fri, 15 Aug 2008 01:23:05 GMT, (e-mail address removed) wrote:

True to my word, a Word doc is attached. It contains low res scans of
my communication with Ashto Tate, and scans of various docs (very old)
that are just a drop in the ocean of the over 6 inch thick of code and docs.
This is unorthadox, its a binary (a word doc) not uuenc translated text.

There are no virus, I wouldn't do that.

You will notice that the program is called "Action Memo" and the database
records are called "Action Items". Thier usage and functionality are absolutely
identical to modern usage as found in large software franchises like Lotus Notes.

You will also notice that I "Copyrighted" it on my single distribution to
Ashton-Tate. Additionally you will notice that Ashton-Tate did not tell me
they would attain those rights. Gee, the Supreme Court declaired that
unconstitutional in the 70's.

I did a search on Yahoo for "Action Memo", there were hundreds of pages,
each %100 in relavence to exactly what my program did. The same for
"Action Item". None of the hits date back to when I wrote this program.

I didn't tradmark my "art"full terms, but I did Copyright my program.
And the name was "Action Memo" with "Action Items" in the database.
I can find no relavent hits before my programs inception date.

In fact, in 1986, I don't know of anyone with INTERNET access, do you?
Maybe usenet, or weird bbs's.
I certainly didn't. This is not something I stole from somebody,
contrarily someone did steal it from me!

Everybody gets thier 15 minutes of fame. This was mine, and I know it.
I feel like the guy who invented the ratchet while working for Sears.
They gave him a bonus. Later, the courts gave him 40 million dollars,
plus life time royalties.

I copyrighted my software (its one of the scans) when I sent it to Ashton-Tate.
The software was extremely sophisticated, even by todays standards. No wonder
the exact constructs are used today in fine detail as to what I composed.

Like I said, I have rheames of evidece of 14" wide tractor green/white
printouts of heavily documented code.

So, If you know a real good lawyer who would like to make a percentage (millions)
can you steer them my way please.

Thank you,

sln

 

[Charlton Wilbur]

sln> ::"Action item" is as a management term of art.

sln> As well as "Action Memo". I thank you for this praise. I am
sln> the artist who invented it.

Er, it's not praise. It is itself a term of art - a phrase that has a
specific technical meaning in a specific context. "Agile," in the
context of software development, is another term of art. "Scrum" is a
term of art both in software engineering and in sport. And so on.

Further, I do not believe that you were the sole inventor of it; to
establish that, you'd have to show that it was not used anywhere else
before you used it, and that all subsequent uses of it can be traced
back to you.

And even then, if you could show that, you didn't trademark it, and you
haven't defended it as a trademark since, and so I don't think you have
a snowflake's chance in hell of doing anything except making lawyers
richer.

But have at it. As noted, I'm not a lawyer.

Charlton

 

[sln]

sln> ::"Action item" is as a management term of art.

sln> As well as "Action Memo". I thank you for this praise. I am
sln> the artist who invented it.

Er, it's not praise. It is itself a term of art - a phrase that has a
specific technical meaning in a specific context. "Agile," in the
context of software development, is another term of art. "Scrum" is a
term of art both in software engineering and in sport. And so on.

Further, I do not believe that you were the sole inventor of it; to
establish that, you'd have to show that it was not used anywhere else
before you used it, and that all subsequent uses of it can be traced
back to you.

And even then, if you could show that, you didn't trademark it, and you
haven't defended it as a trademark since, and so I don't think you have
a snowflake's chance in hell of doing anything except making lawyers
richer.

But have at it. As noted, I'm not a lawyer.

Charlton

Hey great! Hope you have picked up the scans I posted. I didn't mean
to be flip with you at all. Maybe in 1985, the internet was everywhere
and I just stole my idea from somebody else.

I find it interresting you classify my idea's with the modern day terms
of agile and scrum. Both of which I have intimate knowledge of and have
used at corporations. Both of which suck beyond compare! I feel almost
slighted you would classify my art in that realm.

However, don't be fooled, my software depicts exactly in word and deed
an art used today to a very fine detail. Specifically, Lotus Notes (the big guy).

If you can find a genisis before my proof, then hey, tell me where...
Hey, now you can say you know one of the pioneers of modern day technology.
Who happens to own the technology copyright!

sln

 

[Dr.Ruud]

(e-mail address removed) schreef:

However, don't be fooled, my software depicts exactly in word and deed
an art used today to a very fine detail. Specifically, Lotus Notes
(the big guy).

If you can find a genisis before my proof, then hey, tell me where...
Hey, now you can say you know one of the pioneers of modern day
technology.
Who happens to own the technology copyright!

OT threads gets very boring after 2 or 3 messages. *PLONK*

 

[John W Kennedy]

Thanks for your response. Along with the terms you mention, in fact,
I wrote a program with a copyright label, that depicted exactly, the
modern day functions of Action Memo/Item's used in many software titles
today, including Lotus Notes. On the outer level, I've poste a word doc
with some scans. They provide simple evidence. In reality, I've got a
stack of printouts 6 inches thick.

For the corporate world, I guess the terms were too good to substitute.

The copyright on your code extends only to your code. I think we can
regard it as a fairly safe assumption that no commercial software
product today is written in Fred.

--
John W. Kennedy
"Give up vows and dogmas, and fixed things, and you may grow like
That. ...you may come to think a blow bad, because it hurts, and not
because it humiliates. You may come to think murder wrong, because it
is violent, and not because it is unjust."
-- G. K. Chesterton. "The Ball and the Cross"

 

[sln]

The copyright on your code extends only to your code. I think we can
regard it as a fairly safe assumption that no commercial software
product today is written in Fred.

By that definition I could rewrite Windows XP in Borland C++ then
sell it as my Windows XP Operating System. Or encode Oliver Stones
Platoon into a wmv, then sell it as my Platoon.

For whatever intent or reason, "Action Memo" and "Action Item" exist
today in terms of pc software. The PC was invented in 1982. I wrote my
program in Fred for the pc. If you look at the flow diagram, you can clearly
see its intent as a directed action management program, complete with
deadlines, distribution, completion, multiple tools, query's, and a
shared unified record management system usable by multiple departments
(users) in a time of virtually non-existant pc networks or internet.
Serial communication (modems)/tty was a big thing then.

The fact that my copyright label was affixed and, that I even enterred
it into the PC-Magazine/World FW II contest, validated my copyright.

These people created a whole software suite out of it (GMAS):
http://oas.harvard.edu/gmas/deployment/releases.html

This guy patented it:
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/6622147.html

Some compaines have Trademarked "XXX Action Memo".

Lotus Notes has specific Action Memo/Item module integratted into thier
suite.

I have been looking for "Action Memo" on the internet. There are thousands of
hits. In the search for the earliest references to it, before my software there are
some Federal agency references to Memo's that are rewritten typed transcripts that have
inserted [Action] Memo.

There are millions of hits for "Action Item". None of which are before 1990.

I'm not saying I can Tradmark this, and I understand the concept of "art".
Everybody uses it like running water or electricity.
When Ashton-Tate read my code and docs, I'm sure the light bulb went off
and it was said, this is too good to be true.

They stole my art. Hey by the way, do you think Marconi invented the radio?
They gave him a patent for it. Check the patent office, they took it away
from Marconi and gave it to Tesla, 50 years later.

The radio is art don't you think?

Copyright
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Is a legal concept, enacted by governments, giving the creator
of an original work of authorship exclusive rights to it, usually
for a limited time, after which the work enters the public domain.
Generally, it is "the right to copy", but also gives the copyright
holder the right to be credited for the work, to determine who may
adapt the work to other forms, who may perform the work, who may
financially benefit from it, and other, related rights. It is an
intellectual property form (like the patent, the trademark, and the
trade secret) applicable to any expressible form of an idea or
information that is substantive and discrete.

http://oas.harvard.edu/gmas/deployment/releases.html

 

[John W Kennedy]

(e-mail address removed) wrote:

....a load of nonsense.

Fine. Go to a lawyer. You will find things to be exactly as I have
described them. You have no case in patent law because you did not file
for a patent. You have no case in copyright law because you have no
reason to believe that they copied your code. And you have no case in
trademark law because you never established a trademark, and, even if
you had done so, you never defended it.

If you are /really/ unlucky, not only will you be stuck with your own
lawyers' fees, but with the fees and costs for the other side. Be aware
that this could go into the millions.