[NTLUG:Discuss] Fear and Loathing in Redmond...

[Fred James]

I like that thought, even if you did mention my name in the same breath
with "hotmaul" et. al..
I will rest a little easier now, knowing that the Giant cannot crush me
unless he wants to.
Sorry - having been raised by giants I still seem to have "issues" to
work through.
There is a Mexican saying (perhaps from other parts as well) that says
God has to give money to the rich, otherwise they would starve.
With that I will crawl back into my hole, and try to enjoy what is left
of the sun shine.
Love you all.


Stephen Sansom wrote:
> 
> </lurk> :-)
> <snip> the original post about Microsoft & their licensing </snip>
> >
> > Date: Tue, 03 Apr 2001 09:39:06 -0500
> > From: Fred James <fredjame at concentric.net>
> > To: discuss at ntlug.org
> >
> >... do you think the following block of text, or something like
> > it, might be of any help?
> >
> 
> I'd check with an Intellectual Property Attorney....
> (see below)
> 
> > All data either transmitted to, or transmitted from, this
> > email address
> > shall be considered as
> > (c) Copyright by me as of the date of original transmission.
> > This copyright shall take precedence over any copyright that the
> > Microsoft Corporation, or any of
> > its agents, may attempt to apply to the transmitted data.
> > All data thus copyrighted, but that has not originated with me, shall
> > have those rights immediately
> > returned and licensed in whole and at no charge, to the originator of
> > said data.
> > I shall not rescind or revoke those rights or license in any way.
> > All copyrights that remain with me shall be governed by the
> > GNU General
> > Public License.
> >
> 
> ...but as a non-attorney interested in intellectual property issues, I'd
> think MS might have a hard time defending their claim.  Consider:
> 
> I create an email on my Linux system using pine. I own copyright (with or
> without express notice). I send this to my friend Fred, who is a hotmail
> user. Now, if I understand the "LICENSE TO MICROSOFT" section of this
> license agreement, my friend Fred has effectively conveyed to Microsoft all
> his rights to email that lands in his hotmail mailbox.
> 
> However note:
> --The MS licensing agreement has an element of coersion and duress about
> it. Can this be enforced as a contract in the first place? Well, maybe not,
> but ultimately I suppose so, because you have the option to use or not to
> use hotmail or msn or whatever. Therefore if you don't like the license
> agreement, use another service. (There really are plenty others.)
> 
> --The license agreement is between FRED and Microsoft, not me and Microsoft.
> 
> --I have not waived my rights nor conveyed them in any way to Fred;
> therefore Fred has no standing to assign them to MS or anyone else.
> 
> --By the license agreement with MS, Fred warrants that he has the right to
> convey to MS the intellectual property rights that MS is claiming in the
> "LICENSE TO MICROSOFT" (quoting from the LICENSE TO MICROSOFT: "you [user
> of Passport services] warrant and represent that you own or otherwise
> control the rights necessary to do so and you are granting Microsoft and
> its affiliated companies permission to..." etc).
> 
> --I conclude that, by allowing me to send e-mail to him at his hotmail
> account, Fred is in violation of this agreement with MicroSux because he
> DOES NOT "own or otherwise control the rights necessary" to convey those
> rights to MS!!! And therefore MS cannot claim any rights over the material
> I sent Fred. Period.
> 
> It's just that this would be a real pain to mount an attack against MS --
> an expensive pain, at that -- in order to assert my rights which I have
> neither waived nor conveyed.
> 
> Just my .02....  Intimidation, coersion, bullying. This doesn't enhance my
> opinion of Microsoft....
> 
> Stephen Sansom
> (I don't need this, but: This is copyright by me. I expressly DO NOT convey
> any intellectual property rights whatsoever. Especially to Microsoft
> Corporation, or whatever their true legal business name is--you know--the
> company that Bill Gates is famous for.)
> <lurk> :-)
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Be passersby.
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> 
> _______________________________________________
> http://www.ntlug.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss

-- 
"Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick
themselves up
and hurry off as if nothing had happened" -Winston Churchill
... ain't it so?