No RAND in OASIS
"Lawrence Rosen" <lrosen@rosenlaw.com> Sat, 16 April 2005 00:34 UTC
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From: Lawrence Rosen <lrosen@rosenlaw.com>
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Date: Fri, 15 Apr 2005 17:32:32 -0700
Organization: Rosenlaw & Einschlag
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Subject: No RAND in OASIS
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I don't believe this has received much press, but it is important to IETF also. I believe we achieved an important victory in OASIS about patents that should translate well to the IETF world as well. ********************************* Dear colleagues, This morning I was delighted to read in the New York Times that IBM has committed "all of its future patent contributions to the largest standards group for electronic commerce on the Web, the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards, would be free." [1] I don't think it is too soon to congratulate ourselves that a huge battle has been won. IBM is the big gorilla in the patent zoo, and when it agrees to open standards in OASIS we're a good long way to victory. I'm confident other companies will join as they recognize that it is in their own best interest to do so. The newspaper story doesn't have all the details, of course, and companies (through their lawyers and standards professionals) will be rewriting the rules over time to implement freedom in OASIS. There may still be skirmishes among the professionals. But in broad brush, I think we just won "No RAND in OASIS." The free software and open source communities and customers worldwide can apparently be reassured that a large chunk of patents have been made available for free when we implement OASIS industry standards. That's good news. Of course, as Richard Stallman and many others remind us, software patents continue to confound even when we're not implementing industry standard software. Most of us believe the entire patent system is ripe for dramatic reform to better meet its stated goals. Many of us share a dream of a rich commons of software and content that is free from so-called "intellectual property" ownership. That's the broader war many of us continue to fight. But the battle in OASIS, I predict, will soon be history. Thanks to each of the signatories, and to the many folks around the world who wrote in support. Best regards, /Lawrence Rosen [1] http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/11/technology/11ibm.html?ex=1113883200&en=d2b df8df8eca625c&ei=5070 _______________________________________________ Ipr-wg mailing list Ipr-wg@ietf.org https://www1.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ipr-wg
- No RAND in OASIS Lawrence Rosen