FW: Dickens 2000 Update + more & ? -- BPCS-L

This topic came up on the Information Systems Audit and Control Association
List-Serve so I thought I'd pass it on.  If this doesn't clear it up I think
I saw another item in the thread that said most organizations were ignoring
it.
Good luck.

-----Original Message-----
From: TFCrouch@aol.com [mailto:TFCrouch@aol.com] 
Sent: Thursday, November 11, 1999 9:56 PM
To: cisaca-L@vm.cc.purdue.edu
Subject: Dickens 2000 Update + more & ?



FYI --- The item forwarded should be interesting
to many Law Departments.
Best of Luck,
Tom Crouch
Standard Disclaimers Apply

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Subj:    Dickens 2000 Update + more & ?
Date:   11/11/99 3:46:06 PM Eastern Standard Time
From:   Kapp@unt.edu (Leon A. Kappelman)
Reply-to:   kapp@unt.edu
To: mpearl@itaa.org (Marc Pearl), PLI-Y2KLAW@PLI.EDU (PLI Year 2000 Law
List)
CC: wg-2000@ls.simnet.org

Good work by Marc Pearl and ITAA gathering this information 
and making it freely available!  

The question has come us as to whether companies should 
join together and share the costs of thwarting this 
"extortion attempt in patent's clothing" (-;  -- Do the 
learned attorneys on this list think that joining together 
in this way is a viable course of action?

What follows is an excerpt providing some additional 
information regarding this matter from a Giga Information 
Group report -- "Planning Assumption - Y2K Patent Threatens 
All Windowed Applications" by Kazim Isfahani and James 
Grady, October 29, 1999, Ver: 1.0 P-1099-013:  

"Giga's research into this topic has involved contact with  
the patent's inventor, the attorney representing the   
inventor, as well as discussions with the legal staff and   
patent attorneys at IBM and Boeing.  Our research has 
confirmed that Dickens invented the patented process during 
the course of his employment at McDonnell Douglas.  Also, 
although filings have not yet been registered with the PTO 
both parties have confirmed that McDonnell Douglas has 
reassigned the rights to Dickens.  In other words, Dickens 
is the sole owner of the patent." 

They further opine that: "The enforcement of these patents 
has caught observers off-guard for a number of reasons. 
These reasons, individually and cumulatively, form the 
basis for Giga's opinion that patent infringement claims 
are unlikely to be successful."   

Best wishes,
Leon

 Leon A. Kappelman, Ph.D.
 Associate Professor, Business Computer Information Systems
 Associate Director, Center for Quality & Productivity
   College of Business Administration, Univ. of North Texas
 Co-chair, Society for Info. Management Y2K Working Group
 Steering Committee, YES Volunteer Corps (www.iy2kcc.org)
 Voice: 940-565-4698  Fax: 940-369-7623  Email: kapp@unt.edu
 Website: http://www.unt.edu/bcis/faculty/kappelma/
============================================================
     
Date sent:          Thu, 11 Nov 1999 12:24:45 -0500
From:               Marc Pearl <mpearl@ITAA.ORG>
Subject:            [PLI-Y2KLAW] Dickens 2000 Update
To:                 PLI-Y2KLAW@PLI.EDU

> As has been reported on a number of list serves, the
> Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) has
> been actively monitoring Bruce Dickens' activities and
> correspondence surrounding his demand letter to a number of
> companies that they pay $50,000 up front and an additional
> $1,000-2,000/month licensing fee for a patent that was
> "invented" by Mr. Dickens and 'assigned' to McDonnel Douglas
> Corporation (now: Boeing).  ITAA will be keeping its members
> and the public-at-large updated on the situation through its
> Y2K website, located at: http://www.itaa.org/year2000/.
> 
> In early November Mr. Dickens announced that he intends to
> increase the royalty fee after the first of the year to
> those organizations who have not agreed to his initial
> terms.  A number of Y2K remediators have been informed by
> their clients that they have received Mr. Dickens' letter.
> 
> Our findings thus far:
> * ITAA has no direct knowledge of whether any rights under
> the patent have been "formally" assigned to Mr. Dickens by
> either McDonnel-Douglas or Boeing.
> 
> * You can access the Dickens Patent from the IBM
> Intellectual Property Network, which lets you search,
> retrieve and study nearly 4 million patent and patent
> application documents:
> http://www.patents.ibm.com/details?pn=US05806063__
> 
> * While a patent is to be presumed valid and enforceable at
> the outset, the mere grant of a patent is not dispositive of
> its validity.  The Gartner Group recently issued an advisory
> opinion that "prior art" probably exists, and stated that
> "similar patents have been awarded in recent years covering
> 28-year offset and encoded century-remediation techniques as
> well."
> 
> * ITAA has become aware of possible "prior art" - various
> technical publications on windowing techniques, which appear
> to predate the Dickens patent. As a service to our members
> we have posted the prior art examples identified to date
> below, and plan to post any additional citations that come
> to our attention on this website:
> 
>         - Richard Bergeon, The Millennium Journal, Vol.
>         II.IV, July,
> 1995, pgs.2-4.
> 
>         - IBM SAA AD/Cycle Language Environment/370
>         Programming Guide
> Version 1, Release 1, December, 1991,   pgs. 360-61.
> 
>         - Gary Browe, "Intelligent Report Maintenance Using
>         Dialogue
> Manager", Focus Systems Journal, March, 1990,   pgs. 70-71.
> 
>         - B. G. Ohms, "Computer Processing of Dates Outside
>         the
> Twentieth Century", IBM Systems Journal, Vol. 25,       No.
> 2, 1986, pgs. 244-50.]
> 
> In providing this information, ITAA offers no opinion
> regarding the effect or applicability of these possible
> prior art publications, and offers no opinion whatsoever
> regarding the validity of the patent mentioned in the
> Dickens letter or any rights Mr. Dickens may or may not have
> under it.  Each organization/company must make its own
> decision as to how and if to respond to a Dickens2000
> letter, and seek appropriate legal advice.
> 
> If you have any additional information on this issue, we
> encourage you to contact ITAA so we can post it on our
> website for others.
> 
> ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
> Marc A. Pearl Senior Vice President,
> Government Affairs and General Counsel Information
> Technology Association of America (ITAA) 1616 N. Fort Myer
> Drive - Suite 1300 Arlington, Virginia  22209-3106
> 
> <snip> -------------------------------
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> 
> The electronic messages that appear on this list are for
> informational purposes only. They are not intended to be 
> and should not be considered legal advice nor substitute
> for obtaining legal advice from competent, independent,
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> 
> Transmission of this information is not intended to
> create, and receipt does not constitute, an attorney-
> client relationship. The information contained on this
> list may or may not reflect the most current legal
> developments.

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