Re: [chairs] Re-visiting IPR and OASIS

[Eduardo Gutentag <Eduardo.Gutentag@Sun.COM>]

On 12/09/2004 11:21 AM, David RR Webber wrote:
> Team,
>  
> The article here provides many insights and raises questions.
>  
> It would be interesting to have feedback from OASIS on exactly
> how many of the issues raised are specifically addressed by
> the proposed IPR changes for OASIS - as I'm sure as Chairs
> we are going to get asked these same questions by our
> constituents.

If you do get asked these questions by whoever (I'm not sure
exactly what you mean by "our constituents", as chairs do not
map very well to elected representatives), I would recommend
that you make them read what Bruce says about IETF, at which
point you'd interject: "The current OASIS IPR Policy is a pretty
good copy of the IETF Policy, circa late 90's"; then you make
them read what Bruce has to say about W3C, and then you say: "The
new IPR Policy will put OASIS at the same level, if not higher,
than W3C, when it comes to "establish a workable policy to handle
the collision of software patents and industry standards."

Disclaimer: not speaking for OASIS, of course, just myself.

>  
> Thanks, DW
> ===============================================
>  
> The Problem of Software Patents in Standards
> Bruce Perens, Paper for Brussels FFII "Regulating Knowledge" Conference
> 
> Patents, originally created to stimulate innovation, may now be having
> the opposite effect, at least in the software industry. Plagued by an
> exponential growth in software patents, many of which are not valid,
> software vendors and developers must navigate a potential minefield to
> avoid patent infringement and future lawsuits. Coupled with strategies
> to exploit this confusion over patents, especially in standards setting
> organizations, it appears that software advancement will become stifled
> unless legal action is taken to resolve the situation. This article
> examines the current situation facing software developers and users,
> the methods employed by standards setting organizations to address
> these problems, and recommends strategies for resolving the problem
> caused by software patents.
> 
> http://www.perens.com/Articles/PatentFarming.html
> See also the Conference Program:
> http://en.eu.ffii.org/sections/bxl0411/program/

-- 
Eduardo Gutentag               |         e-mail: eduardo.gutentag@Sun.COM
Corporate Standards            |         Phone:  +1 510 550 4616 (internal x31442)
Sun Microsystems Inc.          |         W3C AC Rep / W3C AB / OASIS BoD