The purpose of this letter is to transmit to you in a formal way the Guidelines I should like to have you follow in the use of the copyrights and trademarks on SYMLOG materials. For the general information of those who may be receiving copies of this document I may state that the SYMLOG Consulting Group is the legally established business organization to which I have transferred the use of my SYMLOG copyrights for all professional and commercial uses of the SYMLOG System.

Teachers, researchers, consultants, clinicians, and others, who are interested in using or developing various aspects of SYMLOG, need to know how to proceed with regard to copyrights, permissions, authorizations, and the like. This letter is an attempt to provide information and guidelines.

The following guidelines seem to me to be appropriate; at least they represent my present sense of what is appropriate, fair, and legal. I set them forth with the hope that they will be honored and upheld by all persons who wish to work with SYMLOG, in other countries, as well as in the USA.

I solicit the comments of all who may be concerned in further developing and refining these guidelines as our experience grows, and particularly hope for close scrutiny and evaluation of the guidelines by the Academic Advisors of the SYMLOG Consulting Group.

For purposes of academic education, research, and publication, authorization to use copyrighted materials should be applied for, and obtained, from the "copyright holder" under the usual academic conditions and limitations--e.g., permission for a specific use, inclusion of the copyright notice, inclusion of notation regarding permission, rights to limited quotation, restrictions concerning duplication of materials, appropriate attributions of true authorship in text discussions, and the like.

In the case of all the materials I have written or produced for the use of the SYMLOG Consulting Group, specifically, I consider the SYMLOG Consulting Group, to whom I have legally transferred the copyrights on these materials, to be the appropriate "copyright holder" for the granting of permissions to others. Those who wish permissions for use of these materials should apply in the first instance to SCG.

A list of some of the various books, booklets, interpretive texts for computerized reports, materials for computer programs, and so on, which I have written to date is available from SCG. The Free Press holds the copyrights for the 1979 SYMLOG book and for the Case Study Kit. The University of Chicago Press holds the copyrights for Interaction Process Analysis. Praeger holds the copyrights for certain materials I have written, but not all, contained in The SYMLOG Practitioner. Various journals are the formal copyright holders in other cases.

Since there may be ambiguity in some cases as to who should be addressed for permissions, I believe it may save confusion in such cases if applicants send requests for permissions to the SYMLOG Consulting Group, initially. If appropriate, they will forward the request to me with a recommendation, and I will act on it myself, or forward it on to The Free Press, or other publisher, with my recommendation.

Conventional academic practices regarding the use of copyrighted material apply to the use of SYMLOG for purposes of academic research. Requests for the use of specific copyrighted materials for quotations or in a structured research project should be forwarded through the SYMLOG Consulting Group as described above. The research project or other use of the materials, including the kind of relationship to be established with the subjects or persons to whom feedback may be planned, should be described in sufficient detail to permit an informed decision regarding the permission.

Individuals are encouraged to develop and publish original research, monographs, handbooks, and other SYMLOG-related work which they feel will contribute to science, and to seek full and appropriate academic credit for their work. All such publications should respect existing copyrights, however; permissions should be sought in advance of publication, as customary, and special arrangements should be made, as appropriate, to protect proprietary rights.

In addition, individuals have every right to seek and obtain copyrights for original work published but only insofar as these copyrights do not violate existing copyrights. If the author wishes to use the work for research in order to gain knowledge about application or particular types or areas of application, with a view to publication (that is, as distinguished from application for commercial purposes) and if the use requires copyrighted SYMLOG System components, the researcher should apply for permission as described above. This includes the making and testing of translations and adaptations of the rating categories.

Results of research findings may be published under the author's name, as customary, but the publication of findings does not create an independent right to the use of copyrighted SYMLOG System components, including translations and adaptations of the rating categories, in application of the findings, in commercial (e.g., fee-for-service) or academic settings. For all applications, the author should seek permission and make appropriate arrangements.

Translating, revising, transforming, or otherwise modifying SYMLOG rating items, concepts, descriptions, or other copyrighted components of the SYMLOG system does not qualify an individual for copyrights and/or proprietary ownership of such SYMLOG-derivative materials. This does not preclude appropriate recognition of the translator or researcher, by name, and indication of the nature of the contribution.

If the results of a research project warrant incorporating the findings into the body of SYMLOG-based materials for professional use, the commercial market, or development into a product for applied use, appropriate arrangements for financial compensation and appropriate credit for authorship to the researcher can be arranged through SCG.

The unauthorized use of the name "SYMLOG®", the Logo, or any of the copyrighted components of the SYMLOG System for commercial purposes is a violation of the copyrights and trademarks. The use of the name SYMLOG to promote or sell SYMLOG-based goods or services is restricted to those individuals or organizations appropriately licensed to use the name for commercial and professional purposes.

In addition to the contextual materials I have written in ordinary prose dealing with various aspects of the SYMLOG System, I consider the copyrighted components of the SYMLOG System to include, (among components I have produced but are not named specifically here, such as the design of computer programs), the SYMLOG 26 vector measurement procedure, including the computational method of arriving at the locations of images in the three dimensional space, the SYMLOG-based observational categories, the rating items, and all item translations, modifications, or transformations of materials and methods held under the copyrights I have legally transferred to SCG, or under the copyrights of other publishers of my work. SYMLOG System components in addition to these include the concepts, names, and graphic representations of the three dimensional bi-polar SYMLOG space, and all alternative substitutions for the names of the dimensions and directions, and all reductions, summaries, displays, and interpretations based upon either the 26 vector measurement procedures, or the concepts of the three dimensional bi-polar SYMLOG Space. Computer programs which are based upon or utilize any copyrighted SYMLOG System components or forms for data collection, data entry, data analysis, data display, graphic display or text output, or any other forms of SYMLOG-based output, are equally subject to the restrictions imposed by protections of the copyright laws.

Only materials which I have authorized and which are distributed through the SYMLOG Consulting Group may legally be used in professional consulting, clinical treatment programs, or for commercial purposes. Individuals interested in receiving authorization for products are encouraged to submit them to SCG for consideration.

The use of such authorized materials is restricted to individuals certified by the SYMLOG Consulting Group as having been trained in the appropriate professional and ethical use of such authorized materials.

I am very much concerned that academic researchers and educators have full and appropriate access to SYMLOG and I will continue to do everything I can to support initiatives in this regard. On the other hand, I feel I have a responsibility, the right, and indeed, an obligation to protect the integrity of the SYMLOG system and its applications as it becomes increasingly used, both in academic and commercial contexts.

In order to exert the quality control which I feel is essential, and in order to promote a fair distribution of rewards to those who have made, and will make, significant investments of time, money, and creativity in order to develop the SYMLOG System for application, I have designated the SYMLOG Consulting Group as the exclusive distributor of authorized materials and the sole source of certification and licensing in the use of authorized materials and methods for commercial and professional purposes.