Voluntary Mobile Commerce Proposal Plan

NEW -- Pictures of the event!!

The story of how:

Note: this is a fictional account of corporate espionage designed to make the actual proposal a surprise.

In 1998 (before either of us had our current jobs) me and Brian were sitting around in a bar sketching out an idea called VMC, or Voluntary Mobile Commerce. Brian thought it would be cool to have something that acted like a pager every time your credit card was run, and I had an idea how this signal would be propagated through a distributed series of wireless gateways, now known as WAP portals.

VMC is different than other transaction systems in that you can encode a single user or chain of approvals on any purchase, or even choose alternative selections if they are offered to the user. VMC has powerful privacy features that encrypt the user's information, so wireless carriers and merchants CANNOT read or track the identity or purchases of the user.

We later drew up a rudimentary business, marketing and development plan for VMC, including presentations and architecture documents. I submitted our work to the US Patent Office and forgot about it (these things can take over 2 years)

Before I started work at i2, I declared VMC as a Prior Invention, meaning i2 does not have rights to my specific expression of the invention. Since VMC didn't apply to i2/IN2ACTION core business, I haven't done much with it since then.

The problems started Friday, when a lawyer at Nokia saw the patent for VMC go through. The problem is, that Nokia was just preparing to release their Mobile Commerce Platform, which included some of the purchasing features of VMC without the advanced privacy. The existence of VMC patents not only wiped out Nokia's exclusivity to their invention, its privacy would circumvent the direct marketing capabilities they were ready to sell.

Over the weekend, I received several emails imploring an immediate conference with Nokia. Unfortunately, one of them was a forwarded message with hints of legal action to wrest away the patent. I met with Brian Monday night to discuss the issue and find out who these people were. Brian said he'd look into it.

On Tuesday I got a call saying that I need to meet with a senior state official from Finland tomorrow in regards to my claim of prior invention. I couldn't get a hold of Brian all day so I tried to ask i2 Legal if they could help me. They said they would not be involved because of my claim, and more so because they didn't want to get into it with Nokia. Furthermore, Robb had somehow been tipped off about it and tried to lay a guilt trip on me about not sharing my innovations with the group, when they could help our cause.

I went to Starbucks this afternoon and related a good deal of the story to this point to Shannon (without lying!) and she suggested I should just be calm, and listen to what they have to say -- they can't do anything legally if you don't give them words to dispute your patent. She also said I should back up the discs and be cautious with Brian, since he's probably getting pressured by his organization. I told her I was worried about tomorrow and just looking forward to forgetting about the whole thing and having a nice night out with her Wednesday. I would pick her up at 7pm.

I decided the best thing to do would be to record my own deposition, so I have my own copy of my testimony, and anything I say at Nokia wouldn't be usable against me because I had my own copy. Also, I could say I would use the tape to tattle on either i2 or Nokia if they tried any funny business. I brought my camera up to work and recorded my story, and left the thing with Eric, since I was supposed to have the meeting tomorrow. If he didn't hear from me, it would be time to turn the tape over to the FBI.

Tuesday night I will not mention much, except I tried to talk to Brian and he was asking me if I had any of the original discs. I told him that they were up in my office at work, because I needed to make a copy. I will tell Shannon I have a plan that I think will work for tomorrow, I'm hoping they're going to make an OFFER, and I'm sure I should be done by 7pm.

Wednesday: D-day.

I'll call Shannon before lunch and say I'm supposed to meet the Finnish guy at 1:30, and I've got the material to show them without giving the whole idea away. She will certainly have put a sweet note in my jacket or something I can mention. I will then be unavailable until I call her again at about 6:45 pm, when she should be just about ready to go out.

6:15: Mandatory meeting of all participants at Brian's house.
6:30 Jason takes Joni and goes to the Helipad. Joni will maintain phone contact as ground spotter. 6:55: Jason calls Shannon from Joni's phone and says there is an emergency, they're questioning me and they won't let me leave.
(She needs to find my steel suitcase, which is hidden behind the bass amp and bring it to me. Brian will be by in 15 minutes. Under no circumstances give the suitcase to either Brian or Eric. Only I have the password to decrypt the files. Don't call anyone else, Brian knows where I am and Eric is there to document if they try anything.)
7:10 Brian and Eric (with camera tape) leave Brian's for Jason's house in his BMW sedan.
7:15 - 7:20 Loading Shannon who should be waiting at Jason's house with the case
7:20 - 7:40: Drive to the Helipad on N Jupiter. Should take about 15-20 minutes. If early, park in the Delux Inn lot, facing away, and wait for or call Joni.
7:30-7:40: Joni will call Brian when Jason is up in the air, and when he's ready to land.
7:40 or so: Brian will pull onto the helicopter tarmac through the North gate, and slowly go left around the small building office, parking close to that building. The helicoper should be coming down so tell Shannon to get out of the car, and stand near it until it touches down.
Eric will hand the video camera to Brian at this time... Jason gets out of the helicopter, unlocks the handcuffs and the briefcase, pulls out a pillow and a ring.
Then he'll take the camera and Shannon into the helicopter and take off again to fly around the city.

Eric, Brian and Joni will go home in Brian's car.
Jason will drive his own when they get back to the Helipad at 8:30pm.

OF COURSE, things didn't go quite so smoothly. Shannon didn't make it to her apartment until almost 7pm. I had all her friends calling her, but no answer, and the cell phone was out of batteries. So by the time she called me, I was already headed for the heliport, and I told Shannon to go to my house as quick as possible and get that briefcase before Brian got there, then wait for Brian to arrive.

When Brian arrived, Shannon was so scared that they were really trying to do me harm that she wouldn't get in the car, in fact she took off in her own car to get her friend Jodi while Brian and Eric chased her back to her apartment.

Once that chase ended, there was a lot of shouting and yelling, but after a couple phone calls things finally cooled down and Shannon and Jodi followed Brian's car to the helipad, a few minutes late but OK.

she said yes and what a bastard I am

we're set for August 2002.