OpenDocument NOT affected by "call to action on OASIS patent policy"

["David A. Wheeler" <dwheeler@dwheeler.com>]

FYI: There is a call to OASIS that I believe does NOT affect the
OpenDocument work, but I thought it'd be worth noting because
there might be some who believe it WOULD affect OpenDocument. Certainly,
when I first heard about it, I thought that they might be related.

Here's the background.

Some well-known names in Open Source Software / Free Software
have apparantly endorsed "A Call to Action in OASIS"; see:
 http://article.gmane.org/gmane.comp.licenses.open-source.general/4047
It says: "Do not implement OASIS standards that aren't open.
Demand that OASIS revise its policies. If you are an OASIS member,
do not participate in any working group that allows
encumbered standards that cannot be implemented in open
source and free software."  Those who have read articles like:
 http://perens.com/Articles/PatentFarming.html
will be familiar with the issues they're raising.

However, the OpenDocument specification clearly does not
have this problem, because the committee ground rules
require a royalty-free license.  This is clearly stated at:
 http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/office/ipr.php
Thus, OpenDocument is NOT affected by this appeal
to OASIS to change its policies; anyone working on OpenDocument
is NOT in conflict with this appeal.

--- David A. Wheeler