--- Begin Message ---
Dear David:
Thank you for your email follow up and for your inquiry. Please be aware that
I have consulted with executives at the company and unfortunately, we do not
know of a way in which we can work together. "Open source software" is not a
venue in which Pantone, Inc. will permit its intellectual property to be
licensed, referenced and/or disseminated. Let me attempt to further explain.
The copyrighted material, which we own, is beyond a "spreadsheet" as you
previously described. The PANTONE MATCHING SYSTEM which includes the
organizational scheme of colors, numbers and names is a registered copyrighted
work and the copying or other unauthorized use of such work by any person with
no permission, is considered a violation of Pantone's IP rights. Note that any
form of the above work, whether printed, computer generated or other is
protected by such copyrights. Additionally, PANTONE, PMS as well as other
marks are the exclusive property of Pantone, Inc., and again cannot be used
without permission.
You might not be aware that Pantone does not only sell color guides and color
specification products, but also conducts active licensing programs which are a
substantial part of its business whereby our copyrighted Systems, the
associated intellectual property and trademarks are provided, under license, to
many software and color output device developers subject to payment of
royalties. Additionally, it is a common misperception that Pantone sells inks
while in fact printing press inks are sold via our licensed partners.
Accordingly, please be reminded that your firm is not authorized to use any
PANTONE Trademarks, copyrights and/or other intellectual property in connection
with any of your products or services unless a formal license agreement is
entered into between our companies.
Finally, feel free to contact us again if you would like to require about our
licensing programs under the above-mentioned conditions.
We look forward to receiving your confirmation.
Best regards,
Judy Theuerkauf
Licensing Project Manager
Pantone, Inc.
590 Commerce Boulevard
Carlstadt, NJ 07072-3098
Phone: (201) 935-5500 extension 2140
Fax: (201) 896-0242
E-mail: jtheuerk...@pantone.com
PANTONE® and other Pantone, Inc. trademarks are the property of Pantone, Inc.
This E-mail, and any attachments thereto, is intended only for use by the
addressee(s) named herein and may contain proprietary, legally privileged,
confidential or copyrighted information under applicable law. If you are not
the intended recipient of this E-mail, you are hereby notified that any use of,
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and any attachments thereto, in whole or in part, is strictly prohibited. If
you have received this E-mail in error, please immediately notify me at (201)
935-5500, or by return E-mail and permanently delete the original and any copy
of any E-mail and any printout thereof.
This E-mail does not reflect an intention by the sender or principal to conduct
a transaction or make any agreement by electronic means. Nothing contained in
this message or in any attachment shall satisfy the requirements for a writing,
and nothing contained herein shall constitute a contract or electronic
signature under the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act,
any version of the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act or any other statute
governing electronic transactions.
The reliability of this method of communication cannot be guaranteed. It can be
intercepted, corrupted, delayed, may arrive incomplete, contain viruses or be
affected by other interference. We have taken reasonable steps to reduce risks
against viruses but cannot accept liability for any damage sustained as a
result of this transmission.
-----Original Message-----
From: David Neary [mailto:dne...@free.fr]
Sent: Tuesday, May 23, 2006 3:48 PM
To: THEUERKAUF, JUDY
Subject: Re: FW: Licensee Application
Hi Judy,
I would like to explore and discuss ways we can work together. As you say, we
would like to include your trademark(s), trade names and (if there is any
involved) copyrighted material (although I was under the impression that
Pantone colours were essentially a mapping of names colours to RGB values, and
that the names were what was important, thus I'm not sure what your copyrighted
material would be).
As you are perhaps aware, free software (also known as open source
software) is becoming widespread, and is fast gaining a reputation as capable
of competing with commercial alternatives. We would like to respond to the
needs of our users and provide this functionality.
Given that the core activity of Pantone is selling ink and swatch books, it
seems in your best interests to have as many Pantone-capable graphics
programmes on the market as possible.
I would like to point out that a trademark agreement with the GIMP developers
would not be transferable - you would have one neck to grab, not an
uncontrollable Medusa. The One True GIMP would have the right to use the
Pantone trademarks, but we would obviously not have the right to transfer the
right to distribute trademarked material to forks of the GIMP - only the
unmodified GIMP would contain Pantone trademarks.
If there is Copyrighted material involved, then we would require that material
to be released under a GPL compatible licence (there are many), but as I said
previously, it appears to me that the only copyrighted material is a
spreadsheet containing the names of colours and their RGB values.
I understand if your hands are tied. If that's the case, would it be possible
for me to discuss this with someone else, higher up the chain?
I realise that this is a weird request for you, but I would really like to work
this out.
Cheers,
Dave.
THEUERKAUF, JUDY wrote:
> Dear Mr. Neary:
>
> Thank you for your quick email response.
>
> We appreciate your interest in our products and services.
>
> We understand that it is your intention to distribute your software
> (incorporating our Intellectual Property (IP)) free-of-charge to third
> parties, who in turn will incorporate same into their own products for
> sale or other disposition. First, be advised that a licensing
> arrangement with us is subject to payment of royalties_ on every unit
> sold and/or otherwise delivered/downloaded free-of-charge to/by any
> third party_. Second, and more importantly, we license our IP_
> directly to software manufacturers and publishers for incorporation
> into products which are then being sold* to end users* and not used as a
> component in
> other parties products_. In other words, we do not allow our licensees
> to freely assign our IP to anyone for use as a component in such party's
> products. If such party would like to use our IP it will have to enter
> into a separate licensing arrangement directly with us.
>
> Based on the above, unfortunately we do not see how we can work together.
>
> We would like to remind you that unless your firm is a PANTONE
> Licensee, your firm is not permitted to use the PANTONE Trademarks,
> copyrights or trade names and other intellectual property within or in
> conjunction with your software product.
>
> Please confirm that your firm will not be moving forward and you will
> not be reference PANTONE Trademarks, Copyrights and/or other
> intellectual property within your product offering so that we may
> close out our files.
>
> Again, thank you for your inquiry.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Judy Theuerkauf
> Licensing Project Manager
> Pantone, Inc.
> 590 Commerce Boulevard
> Carlstadt, NJ 07072-3098
> Phone: (201) 935-5500 extension 2140
> Fax: (201) 896-0242
> E-mail: _jtheuerk...@pantone.com_ <mailto:jtheuerk...@pantone.com>
>
> PANTONE® and other Pantone, Inc. trademarks are the property of
> Pantone, Inc.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Dave Neary [_mailto:dne...@free.fr_]
> Sent: Monday, May 22, 2006 11:16 AM
> To: THEUERKAUF, JUDY
> Subject: Re: FW: Licensee Application
>
>
> Hi Judy,
>
> I am a core developer of a free software graphics application, the GIMP.
> We are quite developer, and have been around for a while. We're
> currently working on more advanced colorspace features, and would like
> to include support for spot colours soon, including Pantone support.
>
> The programme is released under the GPL, and is freely downloadable
> from _http://www.gimp.org_ - there are versions for Windows, GNU/Linux
> (and most unix) and Mac OSX. Being available under the GPL, the source
> code of the application is also available for download.
>
> Cheers,
> Dave.
>
> THEUERKAUF, JUDY wrote:
>> Thank you for partially completing and submitting the Licensee
>> Application form on the Pantone Web site. More information is
>> required to assist you.
>>
>> Please provide us with additional details about your inquiry.
>>
>> Please explain:
>>
>> + the products and/or services you offer.
>>
>> + how you would like to work with Pantone.
>>
>> + the means in which you distribute/sell/market your product and/or
>> services.
>>
>> Note that Pantone, Inc. licenses are held directly by the application
>> developer/publisher. We do not license application development tool
>> vendors.
>>
>> We appreciate your interest in working with Pantone and look forward
>> to hearing back from you.
>>
>> Best regards,
>>
>> Judy Theuerkauf
>> Licensing Project Manager
>> Pantone, Inc.
>> 590 Commerce Boulevard
>> Carlstadt, NJ 07072-3098
>> Phone: (201) 935-5500 extension 2140
>> Fax: (201) 896-0242
>> E-mail: jtheuerk...@pantone.com
>>
>>
>> This E-mail, and any attachments thereto, is intended only for use by
>> the addressee(s) named herein and may contain proprietary, legally
>> privileged, confidential or copyrighted information under applicable
>> law. If you are not the intended recipient of this E-mail, you are
>> hereby notified that any use of, reliance on, disclosure,
>> dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail, and any
>> attachments thereto, in whole or in part, is strictly prohibited. If
>> you have received this E-mail in error, please immediately notify me
>> at (201) 935-5500, or by return E-mail and permanently delete the
>> original and any copy of any E-mail and any printout thereof.
>>
>> This E-mail does not reflect an intention by the sender or principal
>> to conduct a transaction or make any agreement by electronic means.
>> Nothing contained in this message or in any attachment shall satisfy
>> the requirements for a writing, and nothing contained herein shall
>> constitute a contract or electronic signature under the Electronic
>> Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act, any version of the
>> Uniform Electronic Transactions Act or any other statute governing
>> electronic transactions.
>>
>> The reliability of this method of communication cannot be guaranteed.
>> It can be intercepted, corrupted, delayed, may arrive incomplete,
>> contain viruses or be affected by other interference. We have taken
>> reasonable steps to reduce risks against viruses but cannot accept
>> liability for any damage sustained as a result of this transmission.
>>
>> The views expressed here may be personal and are not necessarily the
>> views of Pantone, Inc.
>>
>> PANTONE(r) and other Pantone, Inc. trademarks are the property of
>> Pantone, Inc.
>>
>>
>> ________________________________
>>
>> From: dne...@free.fr [_mailto:dne...@free.fr_]
>> Sent: Friday, May 19, 2006 4:44 AM
>> To: KENWORTHY, CLIFF (PAN UK)
>> Subject: Licensee Application
>>
>>
>> Licensee request received:
>>
>> Company Name: The GNOME Foundation
>> First Name:
>> Last Name:
>> Address 1:
>> Address 2:
>> City: Lyon
>> State: n/a
>> Zip Code: 69003
>> Phone: +33 677 019 213
>> Country: France
>>
>> Software Application: - Graphic arts design - Photo/Imaging Color
>> Output Devices:
>> Equipment: -
>> Ink Manufacturer:
>> Raw Materials:
>> Consumer Goods:
>> Other:
>>
>>
>
> --
> David Neary
> bo...@gimp.org
>
>
>
--
Dave Neary
bo...@gimp.org
Lyon, France
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