On March 29, 2014 at 22:37 johnl@iecc.com (John Levine) wrote:
But I think it introduces all sorts of complexities for not much gain. Needs more thinking, including "is this really a problem that needs to be solved?"
Don't forget "Vanquish was a complete failure, so why would this be any different?" and "do I want Phil Raymond to sue me for violating the patent on this exact scheme?"
That was a specific reply by me to a specific suggestion of a mechanism refunding e-postage to the sender if one wanted an e-mail or leaving the charge if not. As I said I think it's overly complex in implementation and not of much benefit. I don't see where Vanquish does any of this from the product site tho I could look at the patents, they might cover more than they used in products of course. HOWEVER: a) If you really were referring to the context of that remark, refunding postage to desired senders, not much problem since I don't see that as useful anyhow. b) If there's some broader context, well, patents can get licensed and otherwise negotiated so I don't know why anyone would be suing anyone. This reminds me of when I was working on a Rock & Roll 50th Anniversary site and we'd put up materials licensed for use by the site. And I'd get this non-stop stream of YOU WILL GET SUED! emails from people who merely visited the site, many DEMANDING we immediately produce proof to them that the material was properly licensed or take it down IMMEDIATELY! And they would be CHECKING! etc. Some would even phone the office and scream at me. None were owners or had any interest in the materials which, as I said, were all properly licensed. There was never any actual problem, not a hint. Gratuitous anecdote: The only (very tiny, funny) problem we ever had was when Elvis Presley Enterprises (which is, yes, that Elvis Presley) printed up T-shirts using some of our slogans which we clearly marked as TM. I sent them a letter offering a $0 license to print as many T-shirts as they like if they just mentioned us in their ads in some friendly way once in a while...LET'S TALK! I mean, hey, this is Elvis Presley Enterprises! Respect to The King. I got back this amazing letter from what must have been a strip mall lawyer, the stationery was truly cheesy (it had logs on it, some sort of good ol' boy western theme I guess), asserting that we had no rights in those slogans because we were NOT in the T-shirt/Apparel business (i.e., USPTO category.) I dropped the matter because it was just too silly to even respond to and figured if it ever seemed to make a difference I'd worry about it. They didn't seem to be selling too many of those T-shirts anyhow, and now they'd been informed and had acknowledged notice which is half the game. Nothing came of it. Not much came of the site either, unfortunately tho I did get to meet a lot of interesting people. Bo Diddley called me once to tell me how great he thought it all was and could he help!
R's, John
PS: You must have met him at one of the spam conferences. I met him a few times.
Maybe, I'm looking at his picture and his face doesn't ring a bell but he seems to be here in the Boston area so if there were a mutual interest I suppose a meeting would be easy enough. -- -Barry Shein The World | bzs@TheWorld.com | http://www.TheWorld.com Purveyors to the Trade | Voice: 800-THE-WRLD | Dial-Up: US, PR, Canada Software Tool & Die | Public Access Internet | SINCE 1989 *oo*