Original Message Date: 18 Jan 92  14:47:36
From: Rick Moore on 1:115/333
To: Tom Jennings on 1:125/111
Subj: Next six messages
^AMSGID: 1:115/333.0 29789268
I am forwarding you the next six messages because I was a little concerned 
with Bill's warning about documents authored by JoHo and published using 
your marks by me. I have no idea if there's any reason to worry about 
getting involved in senseless bullshit, but when lawyers (I pronounce it 
as "liars" myself <g>) are involved, you have to be careful. Maybe you 
want to make check with check with your lawyer and make sure that nothing 
I do can get you tangled up in legallistic red tape.

I have absolutely no reason to believe or disbelieve the "facts" presented 
in these messages. As far as I'm concerned, JoHo is innocent until proven 
guilty in a court of law, and even then I may still not believe he is 
guilty. I really don't know enough first hand to make a judgement. I'm not 
trying to spread gossip (the messages have obviously received wide 
distribution in zone 3 already and will probably be here in zone 1 soon). 
It's just I take our agreement seriously and don't want to cause you any 
legal problems.

I intend to go on publishing anything I receive that I feel has some 
connection to FTSC's charter. The only exceptions are documents that 
encourage or aid illegal conduct, documents that I do not receive directly 
from the author, documents that are obviously copyrighted by other 
entities, or documents that contain obscenity (and I'm no prude) or 
personal attacks that could be considered libel. To date, I have published 
every word I have received.

On another topic: would you like me to submit documents I publish to you 
as FidoNews articles?  It might carry the discussion of new proposals to 
more people around the world.

I hope you and your loved ones had a good holiday season.



Rick


Original Message Date: 18 Jan 92  15:06:04
From: Rick Moore on 1:115/333
To: Tom Jennings on 1:125/111
Subj: Memo (1 of 6)
^AMSGID: 1:115/333.0 297896bc
* Original From: Bill Bolton (3:711/403)
* Original To  : Rick Moore (1:1/20)

Rick,

I am passing on the message below (and in the following five parts) for 
your information.

This involves commercial rather than technical issues and so you can make 
of it what you will.  I thought you might want to be aware of it as it 
potentially effects the distribution in Zone 3 (possibly elsewhere as 
well) of items JoHo provided to FTSC during his period in Australia.  Both 
FSC-0046.A02 and FSC-0053.A01 fall into this category.

Cheers,

Bill

=====

 * Crossposted in Region 50 Sysop Conference
 * Crossposted in Front Door Conference
 * Crossposted in Zone 3 Sysop Conference
 * Crossposted in INTLnet - Int'l Sysop's Echo
 * Crossposted in INTLnet - Zone 58 Sysop's Only

                               MEMO

        INTRODUCTION

        From what I can understand, people that are involved in the 
Fidonet community and particularly those involved with and using the Front 
Door and Tosscan products have been over the past year getting conflicting 
and contradictory reports about Front Door (FD), its ownership ,its 
distribution and the rights to sell Front Door. To date I have refrained 
from entering into or disclosing any details about FD , about Joaquim (JH) 
and my involvement with the Front Door project . I had been counselled by 
my lawyers that such a delicate and legal matter was best disclosed and 
thrashed out in the court rooms and that the Fidonet network was not the 
correct forum for disclosing information. I have always been aware of the 
fact that large sections of the people involved in the Fidonet network 
thrive on gossip and innuendo and generally have nothing better to do than 
to fabricate and spread false , malicious, slanderous and damaging 
information about other people. Because of this, I have also refrained, 
not wanting to be seen to have stooped to this level. Furthermore being 
largely involved in the commercial world I am also aware of the potential 
for libel .

        Having said all of the above then why have I now decided that the 
TRUE facts about Front Door, Joaquim and myself need to be spelled out. 
The reason is simple. Having already lost a fortune to Joaquim I have 
nothing left to lose but my name and reputation and it is THIS very thing 
above ALL else that has prompted me to finally disclose the facts about 
the Front Door Project and Joaquim. In the business world THE most 
important asset a person has is not his money but his name and his 
reputation. Therefore rather than have my name and reputation maligned, 
sullied and misconstrued because people are not aware of or not in 
possesion of the true and full facts , I have decided  to provide it. They 
say that the beginning of wisdom is to call a thing by its right name so 
in this case let me present the facts to you and then you can arrive at an 
informed opinion about the matter on your own.

> continue next message <

--- InterMail 2.01b
 * Origin: Canyen Software - Not Just A Big Hole! (3:632/313)

 
 
 
 

Original Message Date: 18 Jan 92  15:06:38
From: Rick Moore on 1:115/333
To: Tom Jennings on 1:125/111
Subj: Memo (2 of 6)
^AMSGID: 1:115/333.0 297896de
* Original From: Bill Bolton (3:711/403)
* Original To  : Rick Moore (1:1/20)

 * Crossposted in Region 50 Sysop Conference
 * Crossposted in Front Door Conference
 * Crossposted in Zone 3 Sysop Conference
 * Crossposted in INTLnet - Int'l Sysop's Echo
 * Crossposted in INTLnet - Zone 58 Sysop's Only

        THE BACKGROUND

        About 3 or more years ago a Mr. Peter Stewart was approached by 
Joaquim to be involved in developing an E-Mail system. Peter was involved 
as a full partner and they jointly developed the Front Door package up to 
the release of ver 1.99c. The development of FD was along the following 
lines. Peter Stewart developed

               The Interface
               the Mailer
               the Nodelist compiler
               and the Editor

        Joaquim developed Front Doors Setup program and some of the 
Protocols. The FUNDING for this development came from a number of sources. 
It was not funded by Joaquim. At the end of the 1.99c development JH 
proceeded too end the partnership with Peter Stewart. Through David Nugent 
I invited Joaquim to Australia to do some software development. At this 
stage I had other projects I was interested in doing . When Joaquim came 
to Australia he convinced  me into funding the next version of Front Door. 
His convincing arguments were that he or at least James had about 600 
orders ready to be fulfilled IF ONLY WE HAD VER 2.00. We felt that Front 
Door should be developed along commercial lines with a lot more commercial 
features and requirements than it had at the time. I had at this stage 
already PAID for Joaquims  airfare to come to Australia. For the next 12 
months I PAID Joaquim a weekly WAGE while he developed what became to be 
called Front Door ver 2.00.

> continue next page <

--- InterMail 2.01b
 * Origin: Canyen Software - Not Just A Big Hole! (3:632/313)

 
 

Original Message Date: 18 Jan 92  15:07:06
From: Rick Moore on 1:115/333
To: Tom Jennings on 1:125/111
Subj: Memo (3 of 6)
^AMSGID: 1:115/333.0 297896fa
* Original From: Bill Bolton (3:711/403)
* Original To  : Rick Moore (1:1/20)

 * Crossposted in Region 50 Sysop Conference
 * Crossposted in Front Door Conference
 * Crossposted in Zone 3 Sysop Conference
 * Crossposted in INTLnet - Int'l Sysop's Echo
 * Crossposted in INTLnet - Zone 58 Sysop's Only

The other major components that I paid to have developed
for ver 2.00 was

               1. All programming work done between 1.99c and 2.0
               2. FDCD ( The Communications Driver)
               3. The Install program
               4. The Documentation

        The total cost to date was around $140,000.00. This figure does not
include Opportunity costs or Interest rates. If these were considered then 
the
figure would be closer to $250,000.00

        It may come as a surprise to some of you that a large part of the
commercial ideas that went into ver 2.0 came from David Nugent. Any of you 
who
have known David well , know that he is a fountain of ideas both 
conceptually
and technically. The balance came from a group of well known beta testers.

        Some time in July of 1990 JH and myself signed some preliminary 
legal
documents . When version 2.00 was officially released I had some additional
legal documents prepared. These documents detailed the amount of monies 
spent
on the ver 2.00 project by myself. It also detailed a royalty scheme that
Joquim had to comply to. The Agreement ensured that I retained OWNERSHIP 
of all
  the components that I paid for until Joaquim had paid IN FULL the amounts
outstanding.

        To date and almost one year later I have not received ONE CENT in
royalty payments from Joaquim as per our agreement. I have tried everything
possible outside the legal channels to ensure that he repays the money but 
to
no avail. It has therefore become obvious that I have been taken as a 
sucker
and for a ride and that Joaquim never ever did intend to repay back any of 
the
moneys that were lent to him or used to fund the project.

> continue next message <

--- InterMail 2.01b
 * Origin: Canyen Software - Not Just A Big Hole! (3:632/313)

 
 

Original Message Date: 18 Jan 92  15:08:28
From: Rick Moore on 1:115/333
To: Tom Jennings on 1:125/111
Subj: Memo (4 of 6)
^AMSGID: 1:115/333.0 2978974c
* Original From: Bill Bolton (3:711/403)
* Original To  : Rick Moore (1:1/20)

 * Crossposted in Region 50 Sysop Conference
 * Crossposted in Front Door Conference
 * Crossposted in Zone 3 Sysop Conference
 * Crossposted in INTLnet - Int'l Sysop's Echo
 * Crossposted in INTLnet - Zone 58 Sysop's Only

        My buisness relationships with people have always been above board 
and done with the gentlemans handshake.

        It should be pointed out  that as a direct result of my investing 
in the Front Door ver 2.00 and because the completion of the project took 
6 months longer than it should , I eventually lost my family home and 
other assets.

        Over the past 5 months I have since discovered that there are at 
least FIVE other people and companies that have been in my situation with 
Joaquim. These people and companies have over the past 3 to 4 years lent 
him money or funded the development of Front Door. On every occassion 
legal documents were signed and verbal promises made and on EVERY 
occassion Joaquim has broken his promise. Why does He now live in 
Luxembourg ? Because the legal jurisdiction makes it a very expensive 
exercise for anyone chasing him to recover monies.

        THE CURRENT LEGAL POSITION

        So what is the current situation with front Door and myself? . 
Well the answer is as follows

        a. Joaquim has been stopped from using the following components in 
Front Door

               1. FDCD (the communications driver)
               2. The Install programme
               3. The manual/documentation or any derivation of the manual

        b. I currently own the name Front Door for the area of Australia. 
As a result no one will be allowed to use the name in a product or in any 
literature , advertising etc.

> continue next message <

--- InterMail 2.01b
 * Origin: Canyen Software - Not Just A Big Hole! (3:632/313)

 
 

Original Message Date: 18 Jan 92  15:09:38
From: Rick Moore on 1:115/333
To: Tom Jennings on 1:125/111
Subj: Memo (5 of 6)
^AMSGID: 1:115/333.0 29789792
* Original From: Bill Bolton (3:711/403)
* Original To  : Rick Moore (1:1/20)

 * Crossposted in Region 50 Sysop Conference
 * Crossposted in Front Door Conference
 * Crossposted in Zone 3 Sysop Conference
 * Crossposted in INTLnet - Int'l Sysop's Echo
 * Crossposted in INTLnet - Zone 58 Sysop's Only

        c. I retain , pursuant to signed documents and due to a legally 
enforceable agreement between Joaquim and myself the exclusive 
distribution and liscenscee of the Front Door packaging. At this point in 
time we are in dispute with Joaquim and are currently enforcing our rights 
in the Australian Courts. Joaquim has elected NOT to come within the 
jurisdiction of the Australian Courts. Given the amount of expenditure and 
investment made by myself we herby give notice that Joaquim is NOT 
entitled to give licenses or sell Front Door in Australia, New Zealand or 
anywhere else in the world without my express consent. In the event that 
any person purports to hold such a license or attempts to distribute , 
market or sell Front Door , legal proceedings will be issued against them 
and this letter or Electronic mail will be used as proof of PRIOR 
knowledge. d. As far as we can tell it is unclear as to WHO REALLY OWNS 
the rights to Front Door. It would appear that the rights are held by more 
than one person and company that aided in the development and funding of 
the product.

        THE ALTERNATIVE

        As a result of all of the above, I no longer sell or support Front 
Door . This decision was VOLUNTARY and not enforced on me by JH since I 
still have the legal rights to duplicate and manufacture Front Door. I 
have however chosen to market a product called INTERMAIL. Intermail is a 
package written and developed by Mr. Peter Stewart who as you recall was 
the joint developer of Front Door up to version 1.99c. In my brief 
association with Peter over the past 4 months I have found him to be an 
absolute gentleman and honourable in all his dealings. For those who have 
not seen Intermail it looks and feels exactly like Front Door. Intermail 
has many advantages over Front Door. But one of the main advantages is 
that it is jointly owned and supported by a company called Scandinavian PC 
who is a $30 million dollar company and the largest software publisher in 
Scandinavia. Their commitment to the product will ensure that it will 
develop faster and be a more commercially viable product than Front Door 
ever will. Front Door is NOT well funded and if all the people that it 
owes money to win their legal case then Front Door will be even poorer for 
it. We estimate that Joaquim owes about $500,000.00 to people that have 
helped him and the Front Door project and this does not include the 
accuring interest.
  
> continue next message <

--- InterMail 2.01b
 * Origin: Canyen Software - Not Just A Big Hole! (3:632/313)

 
 

