Re: [Essentialdata-discuss] My status

[Dave O. <dj...@co...>]

Dave Orme wrote:
> All,
> 
> Although I promised that I would support it [Essential Data]
> personally when I left my old company, my old company (ASC) has sent my 
> new company (db4objects) a letter indicating that if I work on Essential 
> Data, they will sue db4objects.

I didn't spell this out in my earlier email, so I'd better.  This means 
I can't work on Essential Data beginning immediately.

To be on the safe side, I won't answer questions any more on the mailing 
list until this is resolved (even though this would be providing a free 
service for ASC).  I ask the community to please pitch in as best as you 
can and help each other out during this time of difficulty.

The grounds for sueing would be my non-competition agreement I signed in 
order to be an employee.  ASC apparently thinks they can just take 
Essential Data closed-source commercial and stop it dead in its tracks 
because I won't be able to work on it any more due to the non-compete 
clause in my employee contract.

Yes, they know that Essential Data is mostly GPL (parts are CPL) and on 
SourceForge and that they can't stop the rest of the community from 
developing or using it.  I personally think they underestimated the 
power of the open-source development community...

**But please nobody contact ASC.  Trust me, it'll just complicate our 
negotiations.**

Hopefully, it won't come to that and db4objects will be able to 
negotiate something good for everybody.

If not, then we'll have to talk about what's best for everyone in the 
community...


With warmest regards,

Dave Orme
-- 
Got Java?  Use db4objects! <http://www.db4o.com>

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