Re: [TLS] Last Call: draft-ietf-tls-extractor (Keying MaterialExporters for Transport Layer Security (TLS)) to Proposed Standard

[Richard Stallman <[e-mail]>]

    Many patents are filed for defensive reasons.  Ie. If I don't patent it,
    then someone else will, and then I won't be able to use the idea I came
    up with.  The other defensive reason is so that if company A tries to
    sue company B for infringing patents, then company B can threaten to sue
    company A back - and the end result of the mutual assured destruction is
    that no one ends up suing anyone else.  In other words, patents can
    actually reduce the number of law suits out there.

If you are claiming that one additional software patent can result in
fewer software patent infringement lawsuits, indeed that can sometimes
be true.  But lawsuits are just the tip of the iceberg of the danger
of patents.

When people decide not to distribute a program, or not to implement a
feature, because they fear they would be sued, no lawsuit occurs, but
the patent has done harm.

      In many cases,
    patents are filed long before the technology is standardized - and, if
    disclosed properly through the IETF process, can be weighed when
    determining whether to adopt a standard.

IETF should use this leverage to refuse to issue a standard unless the
companies in question allow it to be freely implemented and used.

      In some cases, the IETF may
    choose to adopt a patent-encumbered standard simply because it's
    technically superior to other options

That is an example of what not to do.