[Patents] W3C Minutes.

[jtobey@john-edwin-tobey.org (John Tobey)]

On Wed, Nov 07, 2001 at 11:07:18PM -0500, John Tobey wrote:
> On Wed, Nov 07, 2001 at 09:52:37AM +0100, Xavi Drudis Ferran wrote:
> > 
> > The Register published an article on the meeting of the 
> > W3C working group on patent policy  
> > http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/22561.html
> > 
> > 
> > Which links to the W3C summary of the metting. 
> > http://www.w3.org/2001/10/ppwg-cupertino-ftf-summary.html
> 
> I have posted a copy of this document with my annotations in red at:
> http://john-edwin-tobey.org/my.take.on/w3c-patents.html

I have notified the appropriate mailing list
(www-patentpolicy-comment@w3.org) of my comments and added this in
regard to defensive enforcement:

      Defensive Use: Should it be possible to withdraw a license
        offered under this policy if that licensee later sues the
        licensor for patent infringement on another technology?

      Answer: Yes, but such withdrawal should affect only the
        plaintiff. If these policies have the force of law, then
        defensive use must be limited to _software_ patents. Defensive
        use may be invoked only when the offending lawsuit uses a
        patent to try to prevent people from doing something with
        information, such as copying, transmitting, manipulating,
        augmenting, interpreting, or running it using programmable
        hardware. Our courts, patent offices, and treaty negotiators
        (not elected representatives) have botched up the legal
        climate, so it remains to us to develop reasonable de facto
        governing law. The W3C process provides an excellent
        opportunity to make up for governments' poor understanding of
        software.

Regards,
-John

-- 
John Tobey <jtobey@john-edwin-tobey.org>