Original Message Date: 18 Jan 92 14:47:36
From: Rick Moore on 1:115/333
To: Tom Jennings on 1:125/111
Subj: Next six messages
^AMSGID: 1:115/333.0 29789268
I am forwarding you the next six messages because I was a little concerned چ
with Bill's warning about documents authored by JoHo and published using چ
your marks by me. I have no idea if there's any reason to worry about چ
getting involved in senseless bullshit, but when lawyers (I pronounce it چ
as "liars" myself <g>) are involved, you have to be careful. Maybe you چ
want to make check with check with your lawyer and make sure that nothing چ
I do can get you tangled up in legallistic red tape.
I have absolutely no reason to believe or disbelieve the "facts" presented چ
in these messages. As far as I'm concerned, JoHo is innocent until proven چ
guilty in a court of law, and even then I may still not believe he is چ
guilty. I really don't know enough first hand to make a judgement. I'm not چ
trying to spread gossip (the messages have obviously received wide چ
distribution in zone 3 already and will probably be here in zone 1 soon). چ
It's just I take our agreement seriously and don't want to cause you any چ
legal problems.
I intend to go on publishing anything I receive that I feel has some چ
connection to FTSC's charter. The only exceptions are documents that چ
encourage or aid illegal conduct, documents that I do not receive directly چ
from the author, documents that are obviously copyrighted by other چ
entities, or documents that contain obscenity (and I'm no prude) or چ
personal attacks that could be considered libel. To date, I have published چ
every word I have received.
On another topic: would you like me to submit documents I publish to you چ
as FidoNews articles? It might carry the discussion of new proposals to چ
more people around the world.
I hope you and your loved ones had a good holiday season.
Rick
Original Message Date: 18 Jan 92 15:06:04
From: Rick Moore on 1:115/333
To: Tom Jennings on 1:125/111
Subj: Memo (1 of 6)
^AMSGID: 1:115/333.0 297896bc
* Original From: Bill Bolton (3:711/403)
* Original To : Rick Moore (1:1/20)
Rick,
I am passing on the message below (and in the following five parts) for چ
your information.
This involves commercial rather than technical issues and so you can make چ
of it what you will. I thought you might want to be aware of it as it چ
potentially effects the distribution in Zone 3 (possibly elsewhere as چ
well) of items JoHo provided to FTSC during his period in Australia. Both چ
FSC-0046.A02 and FSC-0053.A01 fall into this category.
Cheers,
Bill
=====
* Crossposted in Region 50 Sysop Conference
* Crossposted in Front Door Conference
* Crossposted in Zone 3 Sysop Conference
* Crossposted in INTLnet - Int'l Sysop's Echo
* Crossposted in INTLnet - Zone 58 Sysop's Only
MEMO
INTRODUCTION
From what I can understand, people that are involved in the چ
Fidonet community and particularly those involved with and using the Front چ
Door and Tosscan products have been over the past year getting conflicting چ
and contradictory reports about Front Door (FD), its ownership ,its چ
distribution and the rights to sell Front Door. To date I have refrained چ
from entering into or disclosing any details about FD , about Joaquim (JH) چ
and my involvement with the Front Door project . I had been counselled by چ
my lawyers that such a delicate and legal matter was best disclosed and چ
thrashed out in the court rooms and that the Fidonet network was not the چ
correct forum for disclosing information. I have always been aware of the چ
fact that large sections of the people involved in the Fidonet network چ
thrive on gossip and innuendo and generally have nothing better to do than چ
to fabricate and spread false , malicious, slanderous and damaging چ
information about other people. Because of this, I have also refrained, چ
not wanting to be seen to have stooped to this level. Furthermore being چ
largely involved in the commercial world I am also aware of the potential چ
for libel .
Having said all of the above then why have I now decided that the چ
TRUE facts about Front Door, Joaquim and myself need to be spelled out. چ
The reason is simple. Having already lost a fortune to Joaquim I have چ
nothing left to lose but my name and reputation and it is THIS very thing چ
above ALL else that has prompted me to finally disclose the facts about چ
the Front Door Project and Joaquim. In the business world THE most چ
important asset a person has is not his money but his name and his چ
reputation. Therefore rather than have my name and reputation maligned, چ
sullied and misconstrued because people are not aware of or not in چ
possesion of the true and full facts , I have decided to provide it. They چ
say that the beginning of wisdom is to call a thing by its right name so چ
in this case let me present the facts to you and then you can arrive at an چ
informed opinion about the matter on your own.
> continue next message <
--- InterMail 2.01b
* Origin: Canyen Software - Not Just A Big Hole! (3:632/313)
Original Message Date: 18 Jan 92 15:06:38
From: Rick Moore on 1:115/333
To: Tom Jennings on 1:125/111
Subj: Memo (2 of 6)
^AMSGID: 1:115/333.0 297896de
* Original From: Bill Bolton (3:711/403)
* Original To : Rick Moore (1:1/20)
* Crossposted in Region 50 Sysop Conference
* Crossposted in Front Door Conference
* Crossposted in Zone 3 Sysop Conference
* Crossposted in INTLnet - Int'l Sysop's Echo
* Crossposted in INTLnet - Zone 58 Sysop's Only
THE BACKGROUND
About 3 or more years ago a Mr. Peter Stewart was approached by چ
Joaquim to be involved in developing an E-Mail system. Peter was involved چ
as a full partner and they jointly developed the Front Door package up to چ
the release of ver 1.99c. The development of FD was along the following چ
lines. Peter Stewart developed
The Interface
the Mailer
the Nodelist compiler
and the Editor
Joaquim developed Front Doors Setup program and some of the چ
Protocols. The FUNDING for this development came from a number of sources. چ
It was not funded by Joaquim. At the end of the 1.99c development JH چ
proceeded too end the partnership with Peter Stewart. Through David Nugent چ
I invited Joaquim to Australia to do some software development. At this چ
stage I had other projects I was interested in doing . When Joaquim came چ
to Australia he convinced me into funding the next version of Front Door. چ
His convincing arguments were that he or at least James had about 600 چ
orders ready to be fulfilled IF ONLY WE HAD VER 2.00. We felt that Front چ
Door should be developed along commercial lines with a lot more commercial چ
features and requirements than it had at the time. I had at this stage چ
already PAID for Joaquims airfare to come to Australia. For the next 12 چ
months I PAID Joaquim a weekly WAGE while he developed what became to be چ
called Front Door ver 2.00.
> continue next page <
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* Origin: Canyen Software - Not Just A Big Hole! (3:632/313)
Original Message Date: 18 Jan 92 15:07:06
From: Rick Moore on 1:115/333
To: Tom Jennings on 1:125/111
Subj: Memo (3 of 6)
^AMSGID: 1:115/333.0 297896fa
* Original From: Bill Bolton (3:711/403)
* Original To : Rick Moore (1:1/20)
* Crossposted in Region 50 Sysop Conference
* Crossposted in Front Door Conference
* Crossposted in Zone 3 Sysop Conference
* Crossposted in INTLnet - Int'l Sysop's Echo
* Crossposted in INTLnet - Zone 58 Sysop's Only
The other major components that I paid to have developed
for ver 2.00 was
1. All programming work done between 1.99c and 2.0
2. FDCD ( The Communications Driver)
3. The Install program
4. The Documentation
The total cost to date was around $140,000.00. This figure does not
include Opportunity costs or Interest rates. If these were considered then چ
the
figure would be closer to $250,000.00
It may come as a surprise to some of you that a large part of the
commercial ideas that went into ver 2.0 came from David Nugent. Any of you چ
who
have known David well , know that he is a fountain of ideas both چ
conceptually
and technically. The balance came from a group of well known beta testers.
Some time in July of 1990 JH and myself signed some preliminary چ
legal
documents . When version 2.00 was officially released I had some additional
legal documents prepared. These documents detailed the amount of monies چ
spent
on the ver 2.00 project by myself. It also detailed a royalty scheme that
Joquim had to comply to. The Agreement ensured that I retained OWNERSHIP چ
of all
the components that I paid for until Joaquim had paid IN FULL the amounts
outstanding.
To date and almost one year later I have not received ONE CENT in
royalty payments from Joaquim as per our agreement. I have tried everything
possible outside the legal channels to ensure that he repays the money but چ
to
no avail. It has therefore become obvious that I have been taken as a چ
sucker
and for a ride and that Joaquim never ever did intend to repay back any of چ
the
moneys that were lent to him or used to fund the project.
> continue next message <
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* Origin: Canyen Software - Not Just A Big Hole! (3:632/313)
Original Message Date: 18 Jan 92 15:08:28
From: Rick Moore on 1:115/333
To: Tom Jennings on 1:125/111
Subj: Memo (4 of 6)
^AMSGID: 1:115/333.0 2978974c
* Original From: Bill Bolton (3:711/403)
* Original To : Rick Moore (1:1/20)
* Crossposted in Region 50 Sysop Conference
* Crossposted in Front Door Conference
* Crossposted in Zone 3 Sysop Conference
* Crossposted in INTLnet - Int'l Sysop's Echo
* Crossposted in INTLnet - Zone 58 Sysop's Only
My buisness relationships with people have always been above board چ
and done with the gentlemans handshake.
It should be pointed out that as a direct result of my investing چ
in the Front Door ver 2.00 and because the completion of the project took چ
6 months longer than it should , I eventually lost my family home and چ
other assets.
Over the past 5 months I have since discovered that there are at چ
least FIVE other people and companies that have been in my situation with چ
Joaquim. These people and companies have over the past 3 to 4 years lent چ
him money or funded the development of Front Door. On every occassion چ
legal documents were signed and verbal promises made and on EVERY چ
occassion Joaquim has broken his promise. Why does He now live in چ
Luxembourg ? Because the legal jurisdiction makes it a very expensive چ
exercise for anyone chasing him to recover monies.
THE CURRENT LEGAL POSITION
So what is the current situation with front Door and myself? . چ
Well the answer is as follows
a. Joaquim has been stopped from using the following components in چ
Front Door
1. FDCD (the communications driver)
2. The Install programme
3. The manual/documentation or any derivation of the manual
b. I currently own the name Front Door for the area of Australia. چ
As a result no one will be allowed to use the name in a product or in any چ
literature , advertising etc.
> continue next message <
--- InterMail 2.01b
* Origin: Canyen Software - Not Just A Big Hole! (3:632/313)
Original Message Date: 18 Jan 92 15:09:38
From: Rick Moore on 1:115/333
To: Tom Jennings on 1:125/111
Subj: Memo (5 of 6)
^AMSGID: 1:115/333.0 29789792
* Original From: Bill Bolton (3:711/403)
* Original To : Rick Moore (1:1/20)
* Crossposted in Region 50 Sysop Conference
* Crossposted in Front Door Conference
* Crossposted in Zone 3 Sysop Conference
* Crossposted in INTLnet - Int'l Sysop's Echo
* Crossposted in INTLnet - Zone 58 Sysop's Only
c. I retain , pursuant to signed documents and due to a legally چ
enforceable agreement between Joaquim and myself the exclusive چ
distribution and liscenscee of the Front Door packaging. At this point in چ
time we are in dispute with Joaquim and are currently enforcing our rights چ
in the Australian Courts. Joaquim has elected NOT to come within the چ
jurisdiction of the Australian Courts. Given the amount of expenditure and چ
investment made by myself we herby give notice that Joaquim is NOT چ
entitled to give licenses or sell Front Door in Australia, New Zealand or چ
anywhere else in the world without my express consent. In the event that چ
any person purports to hold such a license or attempts to distribute , چ
market or sell Front Door , legal proceedings will be issued against them چ
and this letter or Electronic mail will be used as proof of PRIOR چ
knowledge. d. As far as we can tell it is unclear as to WHO REALLY OWNS چ
the rights to Front Door. It would appear that the rights are held by more چ
than one person and company that aided in the development and funding of چ
the product.
THE ALTERNATIVE
As a result of all of the above, I no longer sell or support Front چ
Door . This decision was VOLUNTARY and not enforced on me by JH since I چ
still have the legal rights to duplicate and manufacture Front Door. I چ
have however chosen to market a product called INTERMAIL. Intermail is a چ
package written and developed by Mr. Peter Stewart who as you recall was چ
the joint developer of Front Door up to version 1.99c. In my brief چ
association with Peter over the past 4 months I have found him to be an چ
absolute gentleman and honourable in all his dealings. For those who have چ
not seen Intermail it looks and feels exactly like Front Door. Intermail چ
has many advantages over Front Door. But one of the main advantages is چ
that it is jointly owned and supported by a company called Scandinavian PC چ
who is a $30 million dollar company and the largest software publisher in چ
Scandinavia. Their commitment to the product will ensure that it will چ
develop faster and be a more commercially viable product than Front Door چ
ever will. Front Door is NOT well funded and if all the people that it چ
owes money to win their legal case then Front Door will be even poorer for چ
it. We estimate that Joaquim owes about $500,000.00 to people that have چ
helped him and the Front Door project and this does not include the چ
accuring interest.
> continue next message <
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* Origin: Canyen Software - Not Just A Big Hole! (3:632/313)