Hi friends,

Today we spent five hours in a court-ordered mediation beginning at
9:00am. Present for UF were Steve Hill (UF's attorney), Tonia Baney, and
Richard Keeler. (It was required for UF to bring the person who had "full
settlement authority", which is presumably why Richard had to attend.)

UF began by saying that they were unwilling to settle on any basis that
did not recognize their "intellectual property rights," and since I was
unwilling to settle on that basis, the mediation was fruitless. We did
achieve one positive thing, however, which was to successfully serve
Richard with a subpoena requiring him to be present at trial. (Steve Hill
commented, "Dirty pool!" that we had used the settlement conference for
such a purpose. He refused to accept service on a subpoena on Mo Siegel.)

From what I have been able to understand, it is highly unusual for this
judge to call for oral argument on motions for partial summary judgment.
As there really aren't material issues of fact, this hearing might well
decide the case as a matter of law. We view anything that clarifies the
issues as very positive for our side, and for that reason we are seizing
the opportunity to present our case as well as we possibly can this
Thursday. (Incidentally, even if the judge decides what he wants to do at
the Thursday hearing, there's no guarantee he will inform us at that time.)

To do our best at that hearing, we are flying in David Nimmer, our
copyright expert, along with Dael Cohen, another copyright specialist from
Professor Nimmer's firm. From Oklahoma City, we are represented by Ross
Plourde, who is in overall management of the case, Mike LaBrie, a
trademark specialist, and Murray Abowitz, our litigator. (I'm trying not
to think of what this will cost per hour!)

Many thanks to all of you who have emailed and called in recent days. I'm
writing this at some length to the whole council because from this point I
probably will not be able to correspond much individually until the trial
is over. I'll continue to send out updates to the council when there is
anything newsworthy.

Fondly,
Harry

PS: What is probably our last filing before Michael v. UF goes to trial is
on the website at