[boston-lisp] Fwd: restatement

[David O'Toole]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: David O'Toole <dto1138 at gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Jul 22, 2011 at 3:09 PM
Subject: Re: restatement
To: John Morrison <john.nmi.morrison at gmail.com>


Okay John,

"Our goal for MAK was to commercialize the technology and make it
available to game makers and video arcades."  -- taken from this
article by your MAK co-founder:
http://www.entrepreneurship.org/en/resource-center/using-sbir-to-bootstrap-your-company.aspx

Thanks for the lunch offer, but I'm not going to have an
off-the-record discussion of any kind with you, I'm not going to look
at or discuss code you've been working on that possibly violates a
non-compete agreement still in force, and I'm not going to discuss my
own future plans with someone who might open source "server side
stuff" that involves his patent on networked physics simulations:

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect2=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&d=PALL&RefSrch=yes&Query=PN%2F5623642
http://www.google.com/patents?id=soEoAAAAEBAJ&zoom=4&dq=john%20morrison%20simulation&pg=PA1#v=onepage&q=john%20morrison%20simulation&f=false

Was this patent research funded by public money?

"The U.S. Government has a paid-up license in this invention and the
right in limited circumstances to require the patent owner to license
others on reasonable terms as provided for by the terms of contract
no. DAAH01-91-C-R269 awarded by the Small Business Innovation Research
agency (SBIR). This contract in no way limits the rights of
non-government entities to request and receive licenses under the
invention."

>From the Katz article:

"From an entrepreneur's standpoint, what's most remarkable about the
SBIR program is that it essentially provides free venture capital from
the federal government. Under the program, the government offers up to
$850,000 in seed capital, requires no money back, takes no equity in
the company, and retains few intellectual property rights to
technologies developed with the funds."

I don't think we have anything to discuss.

On Thu, Jul 21, 2011 at 10:20 PM, John Morrison
<john.nmi.morrison at gmail.com> wrote:
> The non-compete does not "cover" any software, including anyd unreleased
> software I have written.  It precludes me from competing with that company
> before that date.  Competing means either selling or open sourcing software
> into the niche market served by that company.  I used the term "releasing "
> to mean either selling or open sourcing.
>
> As to what I want to talk about, I was actually interested in what YOU want
> to do with respect to Lisp and games.  A hobby?  A livelihood? An altruistic
> activity to popularize Lisp?  Something else?  I hoped a discussion would
> help both clarify my own thinking and perhaps identify some opportunities
> for complementary endeavors.  But no sweat if it's not your idea of a good
> time.
>
> -jm
>
> -- John Morrison
>
> On Jul 21, 2011 9:47 PM, "David O'Toole" <dto1138 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> I could probably sum all this up by saying:
>>
>> 1. I don't want to discuss your unreleased work if you can't release
>> it until the agreement expires, because that fairly obviously signals
>> that it's covered by the agreement.
>>
>> 2. I really might give better answers if you told me in more detail
>> what you want to talk about.
>

---------------

Hi John,

before discussing things further I would want to be sure that our
conversation would not in itself cause a legal problem for me in the
future. i maintain a "clean room" for my projects, and left the
software industry partly in order to be completely free and clear from
any form of non-compete agreement, intellectual property/invention
assignment agreements, and non-disclosure, as my ethical precepts
disallow them. more to the point, I would need unambiguous assurance
that the unreleased code you just mentioned, and any ideas we discuss
(whether or not involved in the code, and whether or not i even see
the code) will NOT be affected in any way by the agreement still in
force between yourself and Mak.
- Show quoted text -

-----------

Hello David,

Sorry to be brief.  Am on family vacation & using itsy-bitsy phone to
reply hopefully only to you.  Am working on hopefully industrial
strength lisp based simulation/game.  Am located in MA.  Would love to
have a chat about what you're doing & what your goals are.  Am under
non-compete with simulation company I co-founded & sold (mak.com) -
agreement is up 21 Dec this year.  Have code in the can - mostly
server stuff - but cannot release anything yet.  Please reply if
interested in chatting - I'll buy.

-jm

-- John Morrison

- Show quoted text -
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