December 30, 1995
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS
SHERMAN DIVISION
THIRD PLANET PUBLISHING, INC. :
Plaintiff :
:
:
v. : CASE NUMBER: 4:95CV328
:
JEFF PULVER AND PERFORMANCE :
SYSTEMS INTERNATIONAL, INC., :
Defendants :
AFFIDAVIT OF DEFENDANT JEFF PULVER
IN SUPPORT OF MOTION TO DISMISS
STATE OF NEW YORK )(
COUNTY OF NASSAU ()
I, Jeff Pulver, being duly sworn, hereby state:
1. I am named as a defendant in the above entitled action. I
have personal knowledge of the facts stated in this Affidavit
and they are true and correct.
2. I am domiciled and maintain my permanent residence at 2
Brookbridge Road, Great Neck, NY 11021 in the Eastern Federal
District of New York. I am employed at a brokerage firm in New
York City, N.Y.
3. My hobby is computers, particularly Internet Telephony where
two or more persons can connect over the Internet and have a
voice conversation without use of a long distance telephone
provider. My knowledge of the available technology grew to the
point that I published and co-authored NetWatch an Internet
magazine which I produce and which resides on my computer in
Great Neck, N.Y. NetWatch regularly contains product reviews
and articles concerning various emerging net technologies in
video, audio, marketing and services on the Internet. The
magazine is available, without charge, to users of the Internet.
Hobbyists interested in keeping up with this emerging technology
are the principal readers. NetWatch magazine contained a review
or evaluation of Digiphone software marketed by the plaintiff's
parent company, Camelot Corp. The Digiphone software package
used for the review was purchased at CompUSA in Hauppauge, New
York on September 24, 1995. The reviews were unfavorable to the
Digiphone software and it is my belief that this lawsuit was
filed against me solely for harassment and out of animosity
directed toward me personally by certain of the principals of
Camelot Corp. and the plaintiff because of the unfavorable
reviews. I was not and I am not doing business in the State of
Texas. None of the conduct of which I am accused by plaintiff,
occurred in the Eastern District of Texas or in the State of
Texas.
4. On November 18, 1995 a Canadian citizen sent a file
containing a sound card driver to my computer in New York which
he thought to possibly be a universal one that works with any
software package. He asked me to test it but I was pressed for
time and I decided to let others test it. On November 21, 1995,
not realizing that the driver was associated with the software
package I had previously tested and written the adverse report
about, I placed the file containing the driver in a directory on
my computer in my home in New York which was available to
callers for 20 hours during which time the file was downloaded
67 times, none of which downloads were to Texas.
5. During the evening of November 22, 1995, I received an
e-mail letter from Camelot Corp. advising me that the driver I
had posted was the copyright property of Camelot Corp. I
received the e-mail at my computer terminal in Great Neck, New
York. As soon as I finished reading the e-mail I immediately
removed the driver from my computer's ftp directory. I also
sent a message to all those who had downloaded the driver and
stated that they should remove it from their computers
immediately. At no time did I have the source code for the
driver software as alleged in paragraph 13 of the Complaint and
the Internet users who downloaded the driver did not obtain the
source code from me. Such allegations by plaintiff are false.
6. I have never obtained any trade secret source code of the
driver software as alleged in paragraph 14 of the Complaint and
thus I have never permitted Internet users to obtain the same
from me.
7. I have not engaged in business in the State of Texas out of
which Plaintiff's cause of action arises as alleged in paragraph
2 on page 1 of the Complaint and such allegation by Plaintiff is
false.
8. The occurrence giving rise to plaintiff's complaint took
place in the Eastern District of New York and had no connection
with the Eastern District of Texas. Any and all activities of
mine occurred in the State of New York and not in the State or
Texas, and particularly not in the Eastern District of Texas.
Dated: December 30, 1995.
_____________________________
JEFF PULVER
2 Brookbridge Road
Great Neck, NY 11021
SUBSCRIBED AND SWORN TO BEFORE ME on the ___ day of December,
1995.
____________________________
Notary Public