Re: old FourGen users: beware of Gillani Inc. - Response From Gillani

This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --------------090302060407030404030904 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit As the clown said... This history really make me remember Informix history and the its bougth by IBM... You know the saying... History repeats...? Chucho! Ifo Gillani wrote: > "Zombie Elvis" has made several charges regarding Gillani, Inc. and > the FourGen' CASE Tools. Many of the charges made by Mr. Elvis are > incorrect and based on a flawed understanding of the history of > FourGen and of intellectual property law. > > Gillani wants to set the record straight regarding the history, > ownership and status of the FourGen software. Gillani also introduces > its new "FourGen Passport" program to welcome old FourGen customers to > the Gillani community. > > History > The ownership and status of the FourGen CASE Tools and FourGen' > Accounting (or Business) Software has been the subject of confusion > and misrepresentations in this newsgroup and in the IIUG knowledge > base. > The FourGen CASE Tools remain a popular development environment for > the Informix databases. From the mid-1980's through 1995, FourGen > Software Technologies, Inc. ("FOURGEN") marketed these CASE Tools > directly and through VARs and OEMs (including through Informix as the > "Informix Forms"). The FourGen Accounting/Business Software boasted > Modifiability-By-DesignTM because users could customize it with the > FourGen CASE Tools, and this software was also marketed by FOURGEN > directly and through VARs. > At the end of 1995, FOURGEN decided to focus on the enterprise market > for its financial and distribution management system ("DMS") solutions > that were developed with and modified using the FourGen CASE Tools. At > that time, FOURGEN offered its VARs the opportunity to acquire a > paid-up, royalty-free and non-exclusive license to Version 4.12 of the > FourGen CASE Tools and to Version 3.83 of the FourGen Business > Software. Several former VARs acquired these limited licenses. This > license agreement did not authorize these third parties to market the > CASE Tools or accounting software under the "FourGen" trade name or > use the registered "FourGen" trademark. These former VARs assumed > responsibility for their versions of the software and no longer paid > FOURGEN for updates, upgrades or support. > FOURGEN licensed the FourGen CASE Tools and FourGen Business Software > to these former VARs to ensure that the substantial FOURGEN customer > base would have multiple sources of support for the software. FOURGEN > also provided support to those few FourGen CASE Tools users that were > unable to secure support from one of the former VARs for various > reasons. > At no point did FOURGEN or its succeeding companies abandon their > rights to the FourGen software. > FOURGEN changed its name to Endura Software Corporation in 1997. > Endura was merged with a subsidiary of HK Systems, Inc. in 1998. First > doing business as HK Systems, this subsidiary later changed its name > to Irista, Inc. in 2000. On January 25, 2001, Gillani acquired all of > the assets of Irista's Financial and DMS business, including all of > the FourGen software, intellectual property (trademarks, copyrights, > etc.), and the assignment of all DMS-related contracts. Gillani, and > no other company, is the owner of the FOURGEN intellectual property. > FOURGEN/Endura/HK/Irista/Gillani ("FOURGEN/Gillani") all continued to > develop, market, license, and support the CASE Tools as part of its > solution under various product names, including "Developer's Desktop," > "Workbench" and now again as the "FourGen CASE Tools." FOURGEN/Gillani > also continued to develop and expand the FourGen accounting software, > creating first the EnduraTM Distribution Management System and > EnduraTM Financial Management System, and now the GillaniTM > iDistributeTM, GillaniTM Financials, and GillaniTM Human Resources > solutions. The current status of the Gillani software is listed at the > end. > > Support of Current Users > Gillani is currently providing support to a large number of customers, > including to users who have always maintained support and to some > which have re-started support since Gillani acquired the FourGen > software. Since 1995, these supported customers have benefited from > over eight years of continuing enhancements, updates and upgrades > developed by FOURGEN/Gillani. > > Licenses for the FourGen Software > FOURGEN required all FourGen customers to sign license agreements. All > FOURGEN VARs, OEMs or those former VARs which acquired the limited > licenses to resell the FourGen software were/are contractually > required to obtain written license agreements signed by their FourGen > software customers. Gillani has filing cabinets filled with these > license agreements. > As the owner of the FourGen software, Gillani needs to ensure that the > FourGen software has been properly licensed to protect its > intellectual property interests. Gillani has been contacted by a > handful of users for which no records exist. Further, these users > cannot provide a license agreement or other good proof of having paid > for the license to use the FourGen software. FOURGEN had over 150 VARs > active at one time, and some did not play by the rules. We all know > that piracy is a rampant problem in the global software market. Some > of these unlicensed, unauthorized users may have been innocent victims > of these crimes. > Without a license agreement, purchase order or invoice, Gillani does > not know how many servers or how many users were licensed for what > products, or even if this software was properly licensed at all. > > Ownership of the FourGen Software > At no point did FourGen/Gillani abandon its copyrights, trademarks, > patents, or trade secrets. FourGen/Gillani never stopped developing, > maintaining, supporting, or licensing the FourGen software which forms > the foundation of the Gillani Global Enterprise SolutionsTM. An owner > of copyrights, trademarks, patents or trade secrets can stop > supporting or licensing the intellectual property (i.e., software), or > "put it on the shelf" in other words, and still own all rights and > title to that intellectual property. > The few former VARs that acquired a paid-up, royalty-free license to > the FourGen software never "bought complete rights" to the software. > These were limited licenses with restrictions and obligations (such as > the requirement to obtain, written license agreements signed by its > customers). > > Gillani's "FourGen' PassportTM" Program > Gillani welcomes all FourGen, Endura, HK, and Irista software users > to the growing Gillani community. Many of your fellow users are > already active members. > To welcome these users, Gillani presents the FourGen Passport > program. For the next six months, users with lapsed support can renew > support by paying a lapsed support fee of 25% of the current license > fees plus one year of the annual support fees (18% of current license > f