Re: Payments to IBM

--- In [email protected], "Peter D. Ward" <pdw@m...> 
wrote:
> richardpinion wrote:
> 
> >>In short, to say that its in the POO does not remove patent 
licensing considerations.
> >>    
> >>
> >
> >Thanks for your answer!  In my humble opinion I think you would 
be 
> >in the best possible position to query IBM as to the legal status 
of 
> >the Hercules emulator. 
> >
> I believe Jay is in a better position than I, and moreover that 
would 
> seem the more appropriate avenue.   If I'm not mistaken, Jay's 
position 
> as posted on this list is that he won't approach them regarding 
> intellectual property, and that IBM knows where to find him if 
they are 
> interested in discussing it.  I think Jay (or Mr. Boyes) did 
mention 
> having approached IBM recently on the matter of licensing software 
to 
> Hercules. 
> 
> >I'm sure I know what you answer will be to my next question, but 
> >I'll ask anyway.  Does your other competitor, UMX Technologies, 
have 
> >to pay royalities to IBM and how do they feel about the Hercules 
> >project (you response will probably be, "ask them yourself!").
> >
> Yes, you should ask them yourself! 
> 
> 
> >Hasn't Intel attempted to prevent these companies from 
> >implementing the X86 instruction set and failed, or does AMD pay 
> >royalities to Intel?
> >
> I'm not sure, but I would bet that there is substantial cross-
licensing 
> of technology between Intel an AMD.
> 
> > 
> >

I'll try to not beet this horse to death, so regardless of your 
response I'll not respond. Not that your response isn't worthy of a 
response, but after a while these things tend to lose their original 
focus.  

Let me suggest that your interest in this matter is more about 
protecting the financial interests of the company you represent.  
And there's nothing wrong with that!  You have a vested interest in 
seeing that your company succeeds.  Any good business person would 
do that.  That's why I think you would be raising the RED flag at 
IBM over the Hercules question, not Mr. Maynard.  I think your 
company stands to lose more if the Hercules project gains IBM 
acceptance, explicit or implicit.  On the other hand, Mr. Maynard  
isn't trying to make money from this project, he's probably just 
hoping to stay out of a federal court! 

Another thought, the Hercules community has been around since 1999.  
IBM has had sufficient time to take action.  Possibly the reason 
they haven't is because they do not see this as a threat to their 
profitability, or they feel pursuing this is not cost effective 
(implicit acceptance). 

Large companies generally do not leave any doubt about protecting 
their legal rights.  Consider BMW forcing a web site devoted to the 
Mini Cooper from using MiniCooper in the web site URL, or McDonald's 
suing (and winning!) a resturant chain in Scotland or England (I'm 
not sure which one) from using the name McDonald's, even though that 
was the name of the family that owned and operated the resturant!

With that in mind, the longer IBM waits to challenge
the Hercules community, the harder it may be to establish their legal
rights.  In other words, if Hercules violates IBM rights today, then 
it violated them in 1999.  I'm not saying they don't have a right to 
pursue the matter years down the road.  But the longer they wait the 
more difficult it may become to protect those rights. 

I hope that if IBM is watching that they will answer the question 
once and for all!  Perhaps they are waiting for the Hercules 
developers to form a company, maybe they just don't like dealing 
with individuals, I don't know????????? 


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