[Gaim-cabal] AOL update

[Sean E. <sea...@gm...>]

Hey guys,

I just got off the phone with one of our lawyers with an update about
the AOL deal.

We sought a settlement, where we would change our name in exchange for
AOL waiving any claims against anything we're currently doing (e.g.
reverse engineering, providing a third party client, using their icon,
etc.).

AOL is not willing to do this under the rationale that they've not
done the research into finding out everything we're currently doing.
They are open to a settlement where we change our name in exchange for
a statement waiving any trademark issues they currently have against
us, and saying they're not currently aware of anything we're doing
that they might have some legal qualms against. The lawyers are
currently reviewing all our correspondence with them, to see what they
should reasonably know about. Kingant and I  also have some e-mail and
IMs with AIM's Chief Architect that could indicate that AOL should
probably know what we're doing.

The lawyers requested the first shot at writing the language for the
agreement, and would write it such that if they sue us for something
they should already know about, they will have to pay us.

All in all, it's fairly weak and less than we hoped for. They reserve
the right to sue us for anything they want, other than trademarks;
they'll just have to pay us if they're suing us for something they
should already know about. The lawyers think this is probably the best
we can do.

Thoughts?

-s.