Count EFF In

[David Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>]

Posted-Date: Fri, 6 Jan 1995 15:16:45 -0500
Date: Fri, 6 Jan 1995 15:16:26 -0500
Mime-Version: 1.0
To: comp-infosystems-www-providers () cs utexas edu
From: ssteele () eff org (Shari Steele)
Subject: Count EFF In
Cc: comp-graphics () cs utexas edu, comp-compression () cs utexas edu,
        gnu-misc-discuss () cs utexas edu, comp-org-eff-talk () cs utexas edu,
        netnews-upenn-edu () cs utexas edu, eff-board () eff org, eff-staff () eff org


Jim Freeman writes:


>        The EFF/LPF could assist this process with some legal savvy
>        in suggesting which versions (or portions thereof) of the
>        extant GIF standards can be used without encumbrance.
>        This would be the "Legal Issues Group" (LIG).  They could
>        also be a site for collecting some funds for reimbursing
>        project participants for pizza, Chinese food, long-distance
>        phone calls, and other tangible costs incurred up through Jan 10.
>        Let me know who winds up doing this, and I'll cough up $50.
>        Content and tools providers with vested interest and a lot to
>        lose might want to be a good bit more generous than that.


EFF would be happy to find and work with competent pro bono legal counsel
to help with this (since none of us are patent attorneys per se and we want
to make sure we do this right).  Not only are we willing to collect funds
for reimbursing project participants for the necessary pizza and jolt
expenses -- we will match all funds we collect, up to $1000, and throw in
EFF memberships to each person donating more than $100.  Any funds that are
not used for this purpose will be saved in an account that is earmarked for
fighting future net threats only.


Go for it!
Shari
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shari Steele, Director of Legal Services                ssteele () eff org
Electronic Frontier Foundation                 202/861-7700 (voice)
1667 K Street, N.W., Suite 801                    202/861-1258 (fax)
Washington, DC  20006-1605                    202/861-1224 (BBS)