GeoApps ZD License Fees

Friday, March 15, 2002

Subject: RE: GeoApps unauthorized use of our utilities
Date: Tue, 19 Mar 2002 12:08:27 -0500
From: "Gonopolsky, Olga" 
To: <angussf@geoapps.com>
Cc: "Ulanoff, Lance" ,
	"Schurr, Carolyn" 

Dear Mr. Scott-Fleming,

Please let me introduce myself:  I am Rights and Permissions manager at
Ziff Davis Media.  I was asked to contact you regarding the licensing
fees for PC Magazine utilities.

Our agreements are issued on a one-time, non-transferable basis, for a
term of one year.
The permission fee to reprint/reuse PC Magazine utilities is $200 per
utility, bringing the total fee for six units to $1,200.

Please let me know if the fee and terms are acceptable and I will fax
you all pertinent documents to sign. 

However, if you choose not to proceed with the above option, you will
need to take all of PC Magazine content off your site. 

Thank you for your assistance,
Olga Gonopolsky
Rights & Permissions Manager

Ziff Davis Media Inc.
28 East 28th street
14th floor
New York, NY 10016
Tel:  212 5035438
Fax: 212 5035420



-----Original Message-----
From: Angus Scott-Fleming [mailto:angussf@geoapps.com]
Sent: Friday, March 15, 2002 1:21 PM
To: Ulanoff, Lance; Schurr, Carolyn
Subject: RE: Response from GeoApps to our cease and desist letter

On 14 Mar 2002 at 16:53, Ulanoff, Lance wrote:

> Mr. Scott-Fleming,
>
> Thanks for responding to our letter so quickly. While we appreciate
> your enthusiasm for our utilities and the fact that you have a history

> with them that goes back almost as long as we've been producing them,
> the license text that appeared in print issues of PC Magazine prior to

> our attaching a license agreement to the files does not constitute
> free and continuous distribution rights.
>
> In fact, as the copyright owner, the moment we ask you to stop
> distributing our software you have two choices. One is to remove it
> from your Web servers and two is to work with us to acquire a proper
> license for these files.

Explain further please.  I am happy to do so, as long as you
understand that my "working with you" does not constitute an
admission by me that I no longer have the right to distribute
the software that you provided me with my PC Magazine
subscription.

> Yes, back in the days of CompuServe and BBS when it was difficult for
> us to widely distribute our utilities, the idea of having other,
> non-related parties also distribute the utilities made good sense. In
> the age of the widely-available Internet, that's no longer necessary
> or even wise.

Maybe so, but by my reading the license under which I acquired
these programs did not include a clause allowing you to revoke
the rights you granted at the time.

> Again, we consider you valuable because you obviously have a deep
> interest in our utilities and in the personal computing industry as a
> whole, but we also consider our utilities a valued asset and we cannot

> allow their value to be diluted by those who would illegally
> distribute or alter them without our explicit permission.

You granted permission back then, with no restrictions, and
you cannot ex post facto change that.