Editorial

By: Warren Bonner

Hi folks,
There has been considerable dialogue in fidonews, in fact it has become one of the heaviest traveled echoes past few weeks.

That pleases me greatly as it is proof of enough stimulation on the editors' part to generate interest in fidonet and fidonews.

Some folks are a tad combative and then put tongue in cheek as if they were really kidding all along. Thats fine, that is the morter that holds the bricks together. Some readily accept reality when it is presented in a warm sincere way, while others prefer to fight to the bitter end on a lost cause, for whatever reasons they may have, and that is okay too... It takes all kinds of spices to make a good salsa.

My own troubled concern is about those who find it impossible that they are wrong about anything; worse yet, will not apologize when they are proven wrong. This is a sad weakness in some men who come to think of themselves in a far grander light than others see them.

There are many submissions for exposure of their views in the Fidonews I took samplings and tried to be even handed in presenting everyone's views, even though I know the vast majority of readers know who is running on an agenda, and who is presenting the truth. Please bear in mind that each person has a right to be heard no matter their misinformation and half truths. It is everyone freedom of speech. Soo.. with that in mind, I apologize for the redundant quotes, if you will try to understand the various authors' submissions. Also keep in mind that Fidonews goes out globally, and services thousands of nodes and points that are not privvy to the Fnews echo where most of the discussions take place.

Just a couple of notes here: From: Malcolm Miles <mgm-ns@tardis.net>

MM> I agree here. While Tom may hold these trademarks in relation to selling computer software and programs in the USA, it has no relevance to our use of the words as part of Fidonet the network.

Best wishes, Malcolm

WB>True in a way, except Tom Jennings gave Fidonews editors permission to use his T-M doggie floppy ASCII graphic in it's Banner and has been there by tradition since mid 80's. Since his trademark is embedded if you will, in the history as well as each issue of Fidonews, and wrapped in the editors copyright, I can't accept your analogy of the facts.

====8<----
(6596) Sun 18 Mar 01 12:36a >
By: Janis Kracht >
To: Ward Dossche >
Re: Re: [5 of 6] FidoNews

Hi Ward,

WD> Further to that the "Dog with diskette" has never been registered with the USPTO at all.

JK> You are wrong about this as well. See the item marked with an asterisk below please: USPO: Word Mark: FIDONET Goods and Services IC 009. US 038. G & S: COMPUTER PROGRAMS AND ACCOMPANYING USER MANUALS. FIRST USE: 19840618. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 19840915
* Mark Drawing Code
(1) TYPED DRAWING Serial Number 73591035.
> [...]

Take care, Janis

Why is this peeing contest necessary you may wonder?

Because Ward wants a reason to try to wrest control of Fidonews from the editor in Zone one!

Watch his moves very carefully. He intends to control who is editor of Fidonews and the Zone it resides in.

His reason is simple: Fidonews exposed his P4 violation in removing Steven Leeman from the nodelist in Zone two. He doesn't intend to get caught with his pants down again, and have Fidonews expose him again. He intends to get control of Fidonews in Zone two via a puppet perhaps?

Using a one time emergency to break tradition of Fidonews editors "passing the torch" after a time to the next editor, no matter what zone the next editor resides in.

However the step by step, message by message in the past week has made his intent very clear posted in his own words in his last post:

> (6588) Sun 18 Mar 01 3:55a
> By: Ward Dossche > To: Philip Lozier
>
Re: Re: [5 of 6] FidoNews 18:11 > St:
>----------------------------------------
> Dear Philip,
>
>PL> Warren, you may publish this if you wish...
>
WD> This could be fun becoz' do I have some news for you ... ;-)

WD> The one currently assuming the role of editor has been appointed

WD> by the IC, not by the outgoing editor for reasons which we all
WD> know (I hope) and regret.
WD> It is a universally accepted legal principle that the body
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
WD>which appoints a person can also recall him/her.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>

WB> And there you have it folks! In my humble opinion, the above statement is the reason Ward started this tirade last Thursday, and has fervently pursued it in his every post.

He is trying to take a Tradition away from Fidonews by taking advantage of a one time emergency in the death of my friend Doug Meyers PE. (Past Editor).
He has denounced every T-M and ASCII drawing as bogus, and belittled all Zones except two for their being smaller, and continued to imply Z2 is the power of Fidonet.

David Mouferrege past IC did approve me as I was the lead Columnist in the Snooze, and for that emergency only, appointed "Pro Tem". The ninety days passed and no one else was selected by the ZCC to give their recommendation to the IC.

And I became editor on a permanent basis. The emergency does not remove the editor's naming his successor as done since the beginning of Fidonews to prevent political power hungry people from control.

Watch very carefully.... guard your Snooze.

Ol'wdb

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By: Thom LaCosta

Ward Dossche wrote in a message to Philip Lozier:

WD> Pressured a little bit by Janis Kracht who was pressured by Thom Lacoste who takes Warren Bonner's words for granted and neither of them checking any of the statements made by the other I went researching the matter myself.

TL> Ward, we need to get a few things straight:

TL> A. I don't take anyone's word for granted,
TL> B. I did check the United States Patent and Trademark Office database online.

TL> What I found, and what has been confirmed by Janis, Malcom Miles and Tom Jennings is that the trademark for FidoNet is registerd to Tom Jennings, is current and will not expire until 2007.

WD> Here in Belgium I'm 3,900 nautical miles from Washington DC which puts me farther away from the USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark Office) than anyone in the continental USA yet it seems I'm the firstone who actually has taken the time to research their records.

TL> You're not only not the first to research the records, but also not the first do do a bad research job.

WD> This is the result which I pass to you with a broad smile and a chuckle hoping that the Thom Lacostes, Warren Bonners and all the others who like to debate issues without knowing the facts read it.

TL> Ward, your spelling skills of last names matches your research skills... it's faulty.

TL> As far as the "broad smile and a chuckle", I'm having one now, thinking of you reading the email from Malcom and Tom Jennings...which totally disagree with your pronouncements and faulty research.

WD> However ... I did the research and here follows the USPTO-story (United States Patent and Trademark Office):

TL> I'd suggest you carefully read the email from Malcom Miles and reread the sections of the USPTO information he quotes. The reference can be viewed at: http://www.uspto.gov.web/offices/com/sol/tmlwtrty/postreg.htm [faulty URL [jb 4/25/01]] Update: http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/com/sol/tmlwtrty/postreg.htm

WD> It seems before embarking on the warpath people need to learn to check the facts prior to mailing-out stuff which doesn't make sense. However, hadn't Warren Bonner and Thom Lacosta not done so I would've never contacted the USPTO. So maybe they did me a WD> favor after all.

LT> Perhaps you contacted a different USPTO than the one that publishes regulations and posts them on the internet? Since you state you have contacted them, can you share the name of the person you contacted? I'd really like to confirm that this person made statements that appear to fly in the face of public record.

LT> Perhaps that person should apologize to you for giving inaccurate information, just as my original communications on the subject not only asked that you stop making inaccurate statements, but also apologize for those you had made.

WD> Any discussion about trademarks, copyrights, "dogs with or without diskettes", the Fidonews-editor and more of these matters is useless.

LT> No Ward, any denial on your part about the validity of the Fidonet trademark is useless.

WD> At the current rate zone-1 expires in 47.2 weeks, that is January/February 2002. This will not happen 100%, of course, but in the end there will be a mere handfull of self-inflated Napoleons making lotsa noise but carrying little weight.

LT> Interesting choice of words....self-inflated Napoleons making lotsa noise.

LT> Perhaps phrases like "Takes one to know one", or "If the shoe fits. wear it" apply to your statement.

Thom
baltimoremd@baltimoremd.com
http://www.tlchost.net/echolist/
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