Martin A. Goetz papers
Scope and Content Note
The Martin A. Goetz Papers document Goetz's professional life aside from, but closely related to, his twenty-eight year career at Applied Data Research (ADR). His major professional interests, namely the software industry, patent and copyright protections for software, separate pricing for software and hardware, bundling, anti-trust issues and IBM, are reflected throughout the collection. These interests overlapped significantly with the interests of ADR and its Software Products Division, which Goetz headed for the bulk of his tenure with ADR. Researchers should use the Goetz papers in tandem with the records of the Applied Data Research Software Products Division (CBI 154).
The Goetz papers have been loosely organized into four series: Professional Organizations, Talks and Writings, United States v. International Business Machines (IBM), and Alphabetical Files. Throughout his professional life, Goetz arranged his papers by subject, according to his current interests, and made no attempt to organize materials by date or record type. This arrangement has been preserved and is most evident in the materials relating to his service to professional organizations and the alphabetical files. Therefore, for example, files titled SPIAC
or Bundling
would cover a range of years and include a variety of record types, including correspondence, newspaper clippings, meeting minutes, notes, and reports; furthermore, materials relating to the topics of bundling and SPIAC may appear in other folders as well.
Dates
- Creation: 1956-1991.
Creator
- Goetz, Martin A., 1930- (Person)
Language of Materials
English
Access to materials:
Access to the collection is unrestricted.
Copyright:
The Charles Babbage Institute holds the copyright to all materials in the collection, except for items covered by a prior copyright (such as published materials). Researchers may quote from the collection under the fair use provisions of the copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code)
Biographical Note
Martin A. Goetz, a software industry pioneer, received his BBA in 1953 and his MBA in 1961 from the City College of New York. He began his computing career in 1954 as a program analyst for Sperry Rand and worked as a systems programmer for IBM in 1958-1959.
In 1959, Goetz joined Sherman Blumenthal, Ellwood Kauffman, Dave McFadden, Bernard Riskin, Robert Wickenden, and Stephen Wright, all former UNIVAC I programmers, to found Applied Data Research (ADR). Goetz was senior programmer and project manager at ADR from 1959-1965 and senior vice president and director of the Software Products Division from 1965-1984. He became president of the company in 1984. After stepping down as president in 1986, Goetz remained with ADR as senior vice president and chief technology officer. Goetz left the company in 1988 to become chief operating officer at Syllogy Corporation. In August 1989 he founded Goetz Associates, a private consulting firm.
Goetz was awarded the first U.S. patent for a software computer program for his Sorting System
in 1968. He received a second patent in 1970, for his Automatic System for Constructing and Recording Display Charts,
the computer program behind the ADR product AUTOFLOW. He served as ADR's representative to the Association of Independent Software Companies (AISC) starting in 1970. He became involved in the Association of DAta Processing Service Organizations (ADAPSO), later called the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA), when AISC merged with ADAPSO's Software Products and Services Section to form the ADAPSO/AISC section in the spring of 1972. Goetz served as a member of the ADAPSO/AISC section board of directors from 1972-1994 and president of the section in 1973. From 1972 to 1980 he served as chair of ADAPSO's Software Protection Committee.
Goetz testified in the late 1970s as an expert witness for the Justice Department in the United States v. International Business Machines (IBM) anti-trust case. He wrote and spoke widely about topics including computer programming, proprietary software and separate pricing, software patenting and copyright protections, software/hardware unbundling, IBM and software anti-trust litigation, and trends in the software products industry.
Extent
30 boxes (8.8 cubic feet)
Abstract
The collection documents Martin Goetz's major professional interests; including the software industry, patent and copyright protections for software, separate pricing for software and hardware, bundling, anti-trust issues and IBM.
Arrangement of Collection
The materials in this collection are arranged into the following groups:
- Professional Organizations, 1968-1991
- Talks and Writings, 1963-1990
- United States v. IBM, 1968-1978
- Alphabetical, 1956-1990
Acquisition:
The papers were given to the Charles Babbage Institute by Martin A. Goetz in February 2001.
General
Acronyms used in this finding aid:
- ADAPSO = Association of DAta Processing Service Organizations
- ADR = Applied Data Research, Inc.
- AISC = Association of Independent Software Companies
- CCIA = Computer and Communications Industry Association
- CONTU = National Commission on New Technological Uses of Copyrighted Works
- ITAA = Information Technology Association of America
- NBS = National Bureau of Standards
- NCPLA = National Council of Patent Law Associations
- PSD = Proprietary Software Division, Applied Data Research, Inc.
- SIA = Software Industry Association, Association of DAta Processing Service Organizations
- SID = Software Industry Division, Association of DAta Processing Service Organizations
- SIS = Software Industry Section, Association of DAta Processing Service Organizations
- SPD = Software Products Division, Applied Data Research, Inc.
- SPIAC = Software Products Industry Advisory Council
- SPS = Software Products Section, Association of DAta Processing Service Organizations
- SPSS = Software Products and Services Section, Association of DAta Processing Service Organizations
Subject
- International Business Machines Corporation (Organization)
- Applied Data Research. (Organization)
- ADAPSO (Organization)
- Association of Independent Software Companies (Organization)
- Title
- Martin A. Goetz Papers, 1956-1991. Finding Aid.
- Author
- Prepared by Carrie Seib, Matthew James Buell, and Amanda Schwarze, January 2002; revised by Carrie Seib, July 2003.
- Date
- 2004
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- English
Collecting Area Details
Contact The Charles Babbage Institute Archives Collecting Area
Elmer L. Andersen Library
222 - 21st Avenue South
Minneapolis MN 55455
612-624-5050
cbi@umn.edu
