Much like Rosebud, the identity of Citizen Kane is a cosmic enigma engulfed by the flames of time and forever shrouded in mystery…

Shame on you, nameless and faceless purveyor of i-technology rubbish, for putting one of your employees up to making false accusations on your own site.

http://www.fawcette.com/weblogger/forum.aspx?ID=1&DATE=5/19/2004

"Here I was sitting on my yacht Xanadu watching "Citizen Kane" on its satellite TV—you know I'm a Big Publisher and have a yacht. I'm also starting a yachting magazine so I can write off my yacht, which shows how successful and important I am—when an ungrateful advertiser fired us because we didn't produce results."

Shame on Jim Fawcette for posting feedback on competitors' Web sites under fake names...

Instead he should follow the Google threads about his company.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=fawcette+owes+me+money&btnG=Google+...

Strike the 301(a) reference, it's Supremecy Clause
preemption.

Daniel Wallace

Back to technology topics. The agreement between IBM,
Novell and SCO reads:

AMENDMENT NO. X
Novell, SCO, and IBM agree as follows:
1. No Additional Royalty. Upon payment to SCO of the
consideration in the section entitled "Consideration", IBM
will have the irrevocable, fully paid-up, perpetual right
to exercise all of its rights under the Related Agreements
beginning January 1, 1996 at no additional royalty fee.

The Copyright Act's section 203 reads:
Section 203. Termination of transfers and licenses granted
by the author.
(3) Termination of the grant may be effected at any time
during a period of five years beginning at the end of
thirty-five years from the date of execution of the
grant;...

Obviously the provision in Amendment X that states
"irrevocable, fully paid-up, perpetual right" is in
*direct* conflict with section 203's provision "at any time
during a period of five years beginning at the end of
thirty-five years" stated in subsection (3).

Since statutory copyright law prevails over contract
provisions, Amendment X is effectively nullified as to
duration by section 301(a) of the Copyright Act.

Mutual mistake about preemption probably voids covenants
under Amendment X unless the court can provide
other contract interpretation. No license exists, therefore
Novell can't waive anthing on behalf of IBM.

This conclusion is confirmed in light of the Seventh
Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in WALTHAL, ET AL. v COREY
RUSK, ET AL. 172 F3d 481 (Seventh Cir. 1999):

"Nimmer says that the 35-year period in sec. 203 is a
maximum period that a contract can be enforced, not a
minimum as Rano holds. See 3 Melville B. Nimmer & David
Nimmer, Nimmer on Copyrights sec. 11.01 (1998)...
Under the principle of preemption, for instance, in light
of the existence of sec. 203, we could not use common law
rules for the interpretation of contracts to require that a
contract for the life of the copyright be enforced for that
length of time. That interpretation would be in direct
conflict with sec. 203."

IBM is probably in more trouble than it admits.

Daniel Wallace

We don't remove anonymous feedback left by our competitors. Here is another notable feedback by "Citizen Kane." We will not reveal the identity of "Citizen Kane" at this time. We notified him via a "private" email. A quick Google search on this subject will lead our curious readers to "Citizen Kane."

http://www.sys-con.com/story/feedback.cfm?storyid=46676

"Citizen Kane commented on 15 October 2004:

This is a joke right?

Old news...unimportant news...from a highly questionable source. And you guys have the audacity to make it the headline of a newsletter?

How is this information going to help me, us or them? Clearly a case of incredible bitterness from a scorned publisher; maybe the accused former BEA employee knew something that more and more folks are beginning to realize...Sys-Con is the National Inquirer of the "i-technology" market (whatever that means)...

Do the entire industry a favor....

Shut up and move on!"

I thought investigative journalism was about inside sources
among other things. SCO is about dialing for dollars. IBM
is about dialing for dollars. Microsoft is about dialing for
dollars -- Only IBM is the wolf in sheep's clothing and is about to have FOSS for lunch.

Nothing in the world could delight IBM, Microsoft, Novell
SCO and non SYS-CON blogs more than to see Web editors in a a food fight worthy of two year olds. SYS-CON's publisher should crack heads or clean house.

How do you think interested readers in Linux land out there view SYS-CON employees acting like adolescents on steroids? Leave readers' comments to the readers' comments section.

Daniel Wallace

This is pathetic...I actually coughed up my coffe as I read this trash.

Doesn't Sys-Con also produce Linux Business Week and publish/distribute Maureen O'Gara's e-newsletter...and I would assume Sys-Con generates revenue by selling sponsorship's in the e-newsletter...right?

Just another exemplery Sys-Con effort to cross-promte rubbish to increase page and/or newsletter view?

Makes one wonder if Sys-Con is affiliated w/ American Media, Inc.. (http://www.nationalenquirer.com/). Nah, even AMI has it some scruples.

Looks to me like "the world's leading i-technology magaine publisher" is hunting for a new tagline..."the world's leading i-technology rubbish aggregator" has a nice ring to it.

There has been some speculation as to exactly why MOG is doing this, as it is having a significant impact on her credibility amongst people who actually know something about what is going on.

I think I have the answer. There is clearly a growing need within a particular breed of company for "journalists" who are hired purely and simply for their ability to spread the message in a sensationalist and confronting manner. It would be a branch of their PR outfit, but have the advantage of being outsourced, which allows the company concerned to quote her as an external source that - surprise - corrobrates their message.

Maureen is in the process of enhancing, not destroying, her future career potential.

Kevin,
Is O'Gara also working as a web designer at SYS-CON? The design of linuxwold web site is as bad as her articles.

Jer

Well, Kevin, I really don't want to see war break out at SYS-CON, because, as in many wars, nobody really wins.

While I absolutely agree with your opening statement, "Maureen O'Gara was up to her usual hachet-jobbing of Groklaw over the weekend", I also wonder about her always being able to state as a FACT that 'SCO thinks this' or 'SCO says that.'

It would seem to leave little doubt as to the source of her articles.

The very short article of hers you refer to is a fine example of her boldly stating The SCO Group's views and opinions with none of the research expected of a competent journalist. There was apparently no attempt at all to determine the validity of the statements seemingly transcribed directly from The SCO Group.

Even the most simple and basic checking would have shown EXACTLY how Groklaw gets it's court documents, and would also have confirmed that it was consistantly AFTER it was made available to The SCO Group's lawyers. Maybe their lawyers aren't talking to their client?

Yes, Kevin, you called it right. Her article was not news, but appears to be simply a hatchet job orchestrated by The SCO Group through a willing accomplice.

Thanks for having the guts to comment, Kevin!

Take care,
Tomas

I strongly object! The talents of Bahdhad Bob a.k.a. "Comical Ali" are not to be squandered on so hopeless a cause as SCOG. Besides, he was famous for saying, of his contribution to reporting, "The information was correct, but the interpretation was not" - whereas what you want here is someone who understands the opposite: "The interpretation was (perhaps) correct, but the information was not."

As Ali said about the Itaq war overall, what we have here is "a difficult situation, not for one individual, but for everybody."