If you are an approved member you may click on the Message Board link above.  If you are not an approved member, please read the information below.  You must register to become a member and we must approve that registration before you will have access.

We maintain this website and message board system for the use of our alumni and friends who wish to stay in touch with each other and with us. This communication system serves as a vehicle to support the exchange of ideas and insights, and a forum to solicit advice and counsel on business ideas or needs, venture plans, investment opportunities, and a wide range of issues and subjects. There is no charge for its use, however, in consideration of the opportunity to use the communication system, members agree to be bound by the terms of the noncompete agreement, which is posted below. The purpose of this agreement is to provide members with a level of confidence that plans and ideas which have commercial value can be discussed without concern for the potential loss of the intellectual value.

Before you can use the message board, you must become a member of the group. To become a member, read the noncompete agreement which is posted below.   If you agree to be bound by the terms of the agreement, then click on the link above to the Message Board, and register as a member.  You will see a regiser option on the log in screen.  Click on that and follow the directions on the screen. When you apply for membership in the message board, please use your first name and your last name, separated by an underscore, as your user name.  Do not use an abbreviation or a nick name. This will allow other members to know with whom they are speaking.  Your application for membership will be forwarded to us for approval, and when we have approved you, you will be able to enter the Message Board.  You will not have access to the message board until we have approved your membership.  On your first entry, please complete a short biography of yourself, and post it to the Resume Forum so that the other members will know something about you. Then you may view messages which we and other members have posted, post replies and make your own posts.

Whereas, the “Members” of the website and message board system called the “Drs. Carland Alumni and Friends” system are prepared to disclose certain information related to ideas, concepts, plans, processes, and inventions, hereafter called “Inventions,” to each other during the course of their exchange of messages and online discussions through the website and message board system; and,
Whereas, any one or all of these “Inventions” may have, or may come to have, commercial value, and may be, or may come to be, protected by patent or other intellectual capital law; and,
Whereas, each individual “Member” desires to be able to engage freely in discussion and evaluation of the “Inventions” for the purpose of refining his or her individual insights and understanding of the creative process; and,
Whereas, each “Member” acknowledges the personal value of the consideration which membership in this website and message board system produces and the personal value of the consideration which discussion and evaluation produces and acknowledges the receipt and sufficiency of that consideration; and,
Whereas, each “Member” recognizes that disclosure of information about a given “Invention” to a potential competitor of the respective “Participant,” or the use of that information by another “Participant” in his or her own development process, could cause irreparable harm to the original “Participant.”
Accordingly, for the purpose of enabling “Members” to discuss and evaluate each other’s “Inventions,” and for other good and valuable consideration, the receipt and sufficiency of which are hereby acknowledged, the “Members” hereby agree that each “Member” shall disclose information about his or her “Invention” to the other “Members;” and,
Each “Member” shall use that information solely to enhance his or her individual insights and understanding of the creative and the entrepreneurial process; and,
Each “Member” shall maintain that information in confidence, protecting it with the same degree of care with which he or she protects his or her own confidential and proprietary information; and,
No “Member” shall attempt to circumvent another “Member” in connection with capitalizing on any “Invention,” or otherwise using that “Invention” for commercial exploitation.
Each “Member” acknowledges that he or she is entering into this agreement freely, without coercion, and without mental reservation, and each “Participant” accepts that if any part of this Agreement is void or unenforceable for any reason, it shall be severed without affecting the validity of the balance of the Agreement.
This Agreement shall be interpreted under North Carolina law, and shall benefit, and be binding upon, each and every “Member” and each and every one of their respective affiliates, successors and assigns, and shall be effective from the date the website and message board were first created, April 1, 2005.
By the act of entering the message board and applying for membership, each individual acknowledges the consideration embodied in that act and in that membership and thereby agrees to be bound by this Agreement.