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--></style></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink="#954F72"><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal>Well, I did tell Roger that I am using a decTalk addon made by an unknown author which is probably illegal. He did not even get back to me about that issue. I wonder if he will try to take me to court and sue me for using the decTalk access32 NVDA addon made by the unknown author? I just use the addon on my personal tablet/laptop for personal use only. Roger did not even threaten me with legal action in any of his emails when I mentioned I use the illegal addon. Instead, rather, he just simply ignored the fact that I am using such an addon, and am also using the speak-windows of various decTalk versions, again for personal use only. I wonder if speech-fx even cares I am using this software? I did tell Roger I am blind and on social security, maybe he figures its not worth taking me to court over using an illegal decTalk access32 NVDA-addon? </p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Josh</p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Sent from <a href="https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986">Mail</a> for Windows 10</p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div style='mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal style='border:none;padding:0in'><b>From: </b><a href="mailto:Text_to_Speech@GMX.com">Don</a><br><b>Sent: </b>Monday, July 22, 2019 20:42<br><b>To: </b><a href="mailto:dectalk@bluegrasspals.com">dectalk@bluegrasspals.com</a><br><b>Subject: </b>Re: [DECtalk] decTalk and speech-fx-inc</p></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>On 7/22/2019 2:51 PM, Josh Kennedy wrote:</p><p class=MsoNormal>> Hi, Rodger dudly got back to me when I asked him about decTalk licenses. He</p><p class=MsoNormal>> said the following:</p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>> 1. Speech-fx-inc owns all versions of decTalk.</p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>DECTalk started out as KlattTalk. Then, became MITalk. DEC acquired</p><p class=MsoNormal>it and gave it the DECtalk name. I think Force bought the IP from</p><p class=MsoNormal>them (not sure if that was before or after Compaq swallowed DEC) and</p><p class=MsoNormal>eventually passed it on to Fonix -- which became Speech-FX.</p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Note that this covers all of the DECtalk products, hardware and software</p><p class=MsoNormal>based. I am not sure if DK released his personal copyright to the KlattTalk</p><p class=MsoNormal>implementation when MITalk came along. (There are versions of the KlattTalk</p><p class=MsoNormal>source code floating around the web.)</p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>There are many Klatt-ish synthesizers designs available as much of the</p><p class=MsoNormal>technology behind the underlying design was published and many of the</p><p class=MsoNormal>components of the early versions were also accessible "to the public"</p><p class=MsoNormal>either as scholarly papers or through government-funded grants.</p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Having said that, there was (and still is!) always room for refinement</p><p class=MsoNormal>so subsequent owners of the IP do have a stake in its later/current form.</p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>> 2. If I want a legal version of decTalk that can be purchased as a good</p><p class=MsoNormal>> NVDA-addon, sapi5, and speak-window-apps, I have to contact a decTalk</p><p class=MsoNormal>> licensee or license holder.</p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>There are several issues related to intellectual property. I suspect</p><p class=MsoNormal>ownership of each of them was transfered completely in each "sale".</p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>"DECtalk" is likely a registered trademark (I'd have to check, to be sure).</p><p class=MsoNormal>As such, you can't call something "DECtalk" unless you are theowner of that</p><p class=MsoNormal>trademark.</p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>The source code for the implementation(s) will be covered by copyright</p><p class=MsoNormal>which, no doubt, was assigned to each of these successive owners (otherwise,</p><p class=MsoNormal>the copyright only survives the original author's death by 70 (!) years.</p><p class=MsoNormal>Thereafter, it passes into the public domain. The term used to be longer</p><p class=MsoNormal>for copyrights held by corporate entities but I've not kept up on those</p><p class=MsoNormal>details.</p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Any novel inventions that were patented would likewise have been</p><p class=MsoNormal>transfered to successive owners. Patents are subject to cancellation</p><p class=MsoNormal>unless actively defended by the patent holder. Any invention that is</p><p class=MsoNormal>not protected by patent can be freely reused by others.</p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Finally, an IP holder can license his IP to one or more entities in</p><p class=MsoNormal>an exclusive or nonexclusive manner. The terms of the license govern</p><p class=MsoNormal>what the licensor can/can't do with that technology under the license.</p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Software is typically covered by a license. You, as a user, don't own</p><p class=MsoNormal>the software. Rather, you've purchased a right to use it subject to the</p><p class=MsoNormal>terms of the license that was offered to you. The license is often</p><p class=MsoNormal>transferable -- as the comments from Dudley appear to suggest. If</p><p class=MsoNormal>you purchase a transferable license from a license holder, then you</p><p class=MsoNormal>now have the rights afforded to that license holder. He forfeits his</p><p class=MsoNormal>rights in the process. So, the total number of licenses can never increase</p><p class=MsoNormal>unless the owner of the IP sells additional ones.</p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>> The issue here is all the companies that sold decTalk either don’t exist or</p><p class=MsoNormal>> do not sell it anymore in any form. So its like speech-fx owns something</p><p class=MsoNormal>> that nobody uses anymore and is just sitting on the copyright saying he owns</p><p class=MsoNormal>> it. I don’t think there is any license holders for the decTalk software dll</p><p class=MsoNormal>> files anymore because they</p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>That's not true. Anyone who legitimately purchased a license is still</p><p class=MsoNormal>the owner of that license. Whether or not they are taking advantage of the</p><p class=MsoNormal>terms of the license is a different story.</p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>> 1. Stopped selling all forms of the product and</p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>The practical problem, here, is that you'll have a hard time finding these</p><p class=MsoNormal>likely "individual" owners who were end-user purchasers of licenses.</p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I purchased my first AutoCAD license from a colleague who no longer had</p><p class=MsoNormal>a need for the product -- around version 2.1! Thereafter, I owned his</p><p class=MsoNormal>usage rights to the product (along with the right to upgrade it) and</p><p class=MsoNormal>he, supposedly, stopped using it.</p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>> 2. All companies who sold decTalk access32 went out of business or got</p><p class=MsoNormal>> swallowed up by other bigger companies.</p><p class=MsoNormal>Again, if you find a legitimate Access32 license holder who is willing to</p><p class=MsoNormal>sell (or gift) his license to you, then you become a legitimate license</p><p class=MsoNormal>holder. The value of this transaction is something that you and he set</p><p class=MsoNormal>(my AutoCAD license cost me $1 when AutoCAD was selling for $2000).</p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>In practice, people pirate software all the time thinking it's a victimless</p><p class=MsoNormal>crime. But, just because you aren't driving your car doesn't mean someone</p><p class=MsoNormal>who really wants or needs it can TAKE it!</p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Can you spell "rationalizing"?</p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Stealing software or other intellectual property discourages owners from</p><p class=MsoNormal>developing or further refining that property. So, thieves and legitimate</p><p class=MsoNormal>users alike suffer. There are lots of techniques that are used to try</p><p class=MsoNormal>to limit this "loss" -- each increases the overall cost of the product</p><p class=MsoNormal>and, possibly, makes it less user-friendly.</p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>_______________________________________________</p><p class=MsoNormal>Dectalk mailing list</p><p class=MsoNormal>Dectalk@bluegrasspals.com</p><p class=MsoNormal>http://bluegrasspals.com/mailman/listinfo/dectalk</p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>