Re: [antitrust-policy] An Antitrust Policy for the IETF

[Stephan Wenger <[e-mail]>]

+1, especially (but not exclusively) with respect to the last paragraph.
Stephan

On 1.15.2012 13:19 , "Joel M. Halpern" <[e-mail]> wrote:

>This particular item:
>
>On 1/15/2012 3:38 PM, Russ Housley wrote:
>> IETF meeting participants MAY:
>>
>...
>>   - discuss licensing costs of essential patent claims associated with
>>     different technical approaches;
>
>Looks incorrect to my non-lawyerly eye.  Discussing the licensing costs
>seems to get into discussion  which we should not have.  Discussing
>whether a given patent that has been disclosed applies / can be avoided
>seems to be within what I have been told the anti-trust rules are.
>However, b ased on my experience having watched courts interpret
>patents, I would tend to guess that such efforts are far less useful
>than people think they are.
>
>The other piece that I have been told is important, that is missing from
>the prohibited lists is that the IETF MUST NOT engage in negotiating
>licensing terms.  The lawyers have told us repeatedly that such would be
>dangerous behavior.
>
>Yours,
>Joel
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