Re: Draining the Swamp: A Technical User's Experience

[Patrik Wallstrom <pawal blipp com>]

On Sat, 11 May 2002, Richard Stallman wrote:

>     Really? I had the impression that Apple was pushing these things as
>     proposed IETF standards, so the patent thing seems surprising.
> 
> It is not unusual for standards bodies to approve standards that are
> covered by patents and that the public is not free to implement.  I
> don't know the IETF's stand; do they have a policy that their
> standards must be free for everyone to support?

This is in section 10 of RFC 2026.

10.3.2. Standards Track Documents

   (A) Where any patents, patent applications, or other proprietary
      rights are known, or claimed, with respect to any specification
      on the standards track, and brought to the attention of the
      IESG, the IESG shall not advance the specification without
      including in the document a note indicating the existence of
      such rights, or claimed rights.  Where implementations are
      required before advancement of a specification, only
      implementations that have, by statement of the implementors,
      taken adequate steps to comply with any such rights, or claimed
      rights, shall be considered for the purpose of showing the
      adequacy of the specification.

    (B) The IESG disclaims any responsibility for identifying the
      existence of or for evaluating the applicability of any claimed
      copyrights, patents, patent applications, or other rights in the
      fulfilling of the its obligations under (A), and will take no
      position on the validity or scope of any such rights.

    (C) Where the IESG knows of rights, or claimed rights under (A), the
      IETF Executive Director shall attempt to obtain from the
      claimant of such rights, a written assurance that upon approval
      by the IESG of the relevant Internet standards track
      specification(s), any party will be able to obtain the right to
      implement, use and distribute the technology or works when
      implementing, using or distributing technology based upon the
      specific specification(s) under openly specified, reasonable,
      non-discriminatory terms.  The Working Group proposing the use
      of the technology with respect to which the proprietary rights
      are claimed may assist the IETF Executive Director in this
      effort.  The results of this procedure shall not affect
      advancement of a specification along the standards track, except
      that the IESG may defer approval where a delay may facilitate
      the obtaining of such assurances.  The results will, however, be
      recorded by the IETF Executive Director, and made available.
      The IESG may also direct that a summary of the results be
      included in any RFC published containing the specification.


There's some more on the definitions of non-discriminatory terms and
such.

-- 
patrik_wallstrom->foodfight->pawal blipp com->+46-709580442