The email is reproduced as accurately as possible. My reply is also available to read, as is the very first email from Sun which was sent by Yolanda Harris.
Once you have read the email that's reproduced below, please also read the notes I've written at the end of this page.
Date: Tue, 4 Feb 2003 10:17:00 -0800 (PST) From: "Elaine K. Lee" <Elaine.Lee@sun.com> Reply-To: "Elaine K. Lee" <Elaine.Lee@sun.com> Subject: Sun confidential information on your website To: cdewick@lios.apana.org.au Cc: yolanda.m.harris@sun.com Dear Mr. Dewick, Yolanda Harris has asked me to take over the discussion she recently had with you regarding your copying, posting, and distributing of Sun confidential information, such as the Sun's System Handbook, on lios.apana.org.au, sunshack.org, and sunshack.net. In response to your last message, I just wanted to let you know that unfortunately, none of us here have any plans to visit Australia in the near future, so our conversation will have be primarily by email or phone. Also, I wanted to let you know that we have conducted a further investigation of your use and have concluded that no permission was given to you to copy, post, or distribute Sun's confidential information on any of your websites. As Yolanda has mentioned to you, copying, posting, and distributing of Sun's confidential information by you without Sun's permission is against Sun's policy. It is against Sun's policy because it violates Sun's trade secret and copyright rights, and hurts Sun as a business. Worse, it hurts consumers. First, there is no guarantee that the posted information is current and has retained its integrity. Old information can misinform consumers. Second, if Sun can't keep secret information that gives it a competitive edge, Sun risks losing market share. If Sun loses its place in the market, then consumers will have to live with less choices in the marketplace, offered by companies like Microsoft. We understand that you are a big Sun supporter in Australia. As a Sun supporter, we ask that you help preserve Sun's business and keep it competitive by: + Removing any materials marked "Sun Proprietary/Confidential" or "Sun Confidential" on any of your websites; and + Refraining from copying, posting, and distributing such materials now or in the future. Also, we noticed that you are using Sun's corporate logo on your websites. Sun has expended a good deal of time and money building up considerable worldwide recognition in its SUN logo in connection with its business. Your use of the SUN logo, especially in connection with the posting of Sun's confidential information, suggests a sponsorship of your site that does not exist, which violates Sun's trademark rights. We must therefore ask that you: + Remove and discontinue any use of the SUN logo on your various websites; and + Refrain from such use now or in the future. You are, of course, permitted to make fair use references to Sun's trademarks. However, all such uses must conform with Sun's "Trademark and Logo Usage Requirements" and must be accompanied by the following legend: "Sun and all Sun-based trademarks and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries. [Insert your site's name] is independent of, and is in no way affiliated with, Sun Microsystems, Inc.". Please refer to our guidelines at http://www.sun.com/policies/trademarks if you require further clarification. In addition, third parties, such as yourself, may request permission from Sun to use certain Sun logos. Pleae refer to our guidelines on use of Sun logos by third parties at http://www.sun.com/logos . We look forward to hearing that you have implemented the above. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me via email at elaine.lee@sun.com or via phone at +1 (408) 404-8994. Regards, Elaine K. Lee Senior Counsel, IP Law Sun Microsystems, Inc. 4150 Network Circle, USCA12-101 Santa Clara, CA 94054
You'll also note references to Sun documents on usage of their logo's, trademarks, etc. I find it hard to see how anyone visiting my SunShack site would think it has any connection to Sun's business, but since I'm a reasonable person I'm happy to change things where it works to benefit both parties.
I fail to see how what I'm doing "hurts Sun as a business" to quote Elaine's own words. The section talking about 'old information misinforming consumers' is total jibberish because the whole point of the archive is to be exactly that - an ARCHIVE! An archive is supposed to present material representing something at the time it was released or produced and of course it will age over time just like any other reference work.
Elaine's comments about Sun's competitive edge being blunted (so she claims) through my placing supposedly-secret information in a public place would be perfectly acceptable if there was some tangible evidence publicly available to show that the material was indeed secret and by the information getting into the public domain it's going to cripple Sun's competitiveness. Where is that evidence? How does presenting data and information which ALL Sun users require to properly maintain Sun equipment of ANY vintage covered in that material harm Sun's business? What it does do is to help people and businesses all around the world make better use of Sun equipment, and there's no way that can be bad for Sun as a company since it engenders the Sun product name in a way Sun itself could never achieve.
Sun doesn't support anyone who doesn't have a service contract (which is a logical choice if you look at their corporate business model), so either Sun has to openly admit that they are not wanting to support the use of surplus Sun equipment that's not covered by a service contract and stop getting in the way of other entities that decided to take on that role (such as myself through Sun Ripened Kernels and The Sun Shack), or they start to support that equipment properly by allowing free access to ALL necessary technical information (ie. the very same material that is in the full Field Engineer and System Handbook document collections).
In any case, I have revised my disclaimer and it now features in more places on the SunShack site than it did previously. That should dispell any fears Sun has that I'm trying to imply a trade connection with Sun.
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