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Subject:FW: Information Mapping copyright From:Jody LaFerriere <JLaFerriere -at- INFOMAP -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 5 Aug 1997 08:36:03 -0400
We have addressed Kathleen Frosts posts privately. For the record, I
believe there was confusing over what "royalties" were in question.
Generally, the ONLY time this has come up (and I've worked here for 9
years) is when someone customizes our software and redistributes it.
Many people who have NOT attended training think they are "Mapping"
because they have the software. We do not sell the software to people
who haven't taken the class.
However, if you do own the software, you are free to customize it all
you want. In fact, it's a service we provide. However, you CANNOT put a
copy on each machine in your department.
This, I believe, is what prompted the discussion of royalties, not
"using Mapping". And I am very concerned about the perception that IMI
is acting like Big Brother about this. It is not the way we operate,
and it is not our philosophy. We believe we are teaching a skill, a
research-based skill (i.e. we -know- we didn't "invent 7+/- 2"!) that
you can use forevermore.
If anyone has any questions, I would be happy to address them offline.
Jody LaFerriere
Information Mapping R&D
jodyl -at- infomap -dot- com
> How close can you come before they'd have grounds for
> sueing you? No idea... that's a question that requires a
> lawyer's answer, and I'm not a lawyer. I'm reasonably
> confident that IM's general solutions won't match the
> specific situation you're designing for, so you're likely
> to customize your product enough to differentiate it from
> the IM product. Moreover, if I were the president of IM,
> I'd have serious second thoughts about sueing someone for
> applying the principles learned in one of my courses... it
> sure wouldn't be good advertising. ("Yeah, you can pay us
> big bucks to take our course... but then you'll have to pay
> us each time you use what you've learned. Don't Bill Gates
> wish he'd thought of this scam?")
>
> --Geoff Hart @8^{)} geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
> Disclaimer: Speaking for myself, not FERIC.
>
>
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