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

[<Jim Gettys hp com>]

The IETF policy/culture has always (and I believe continues to be) to
adopt standards that require patents that charge (even if RAND)
as a last resort.

The policy as written is used in cases where they've been unable to
engineer around existing patents that are vital, and to deal with
deliberate submarine cases (companies not disclosing they have IP
in a working group's area).

This opinion of the sense of the IETF comes from having worked in the 
IETF on HTTP for three years, so unless there has been dramatic shift 
in the last couple (since I finished up the draft standard), I believe 
it reflects the current state in the IETF.

And yes, RAND isn't reasonable for "free" *or* open source software...


				- Jim

--
Jim Gettys
Cambridge Research Laboratory
HP Labs, Hewlett-Packard Company
Jim Gettys hp com