Fwd: RE: Microsoft Patent

[Seth Johnson <seth.johnson@RealMeasures.dyndns.org>]

(Forwarded from DotGNU Developers list)

-------- Original Message --------
Date: Wed, 12 Feb 2003 17:05:34 +1000
From: Rhys Weatherley <rweather@zip.com.au>
Organization: Southern Storm Software, Pty Ltd
To: developers@dotgnu.info

Here is some information from the head of the ECMA working
group responsible for the C# and CLI specifications on the
patent issue.  I am following up with him to determine
exactly what "RAND" means in this context.

Cheers,

Rhys.

----------  Forwarded Message  ----------

Subject: RE: Microsoft Patent
Date: Tue, 11 Feb 2003 22:22:53 -0800
From: "Marcey, Joel I" <joel.i.marcey@intel.com>
To: "Rhys Weatherley" <rweather@zip.com.au>
Cc: "Smith, Scott D" <scott.d.smith@intel.com>, "van den
Beld Jan" <jan@ecma.ch>, "Andrew Clinick"
<andrewc@microsoft.com>

Hello Rhys,

The way I understand it, and I am by know means a lawyer, is
that you can implement the strict ECMA standard, as it is
currently specified, without having to worry about
royalties. In other words, Microsoft and the rest of the
member companies have agreed, via ECMA policy, that anything
submitted for use in ECMA standardization is available under
RAND licensing terms (as long as you are willing to provide
the same terms with anything you provide).

However, the entire .NET Framework is not covered by this
agreement; only that of which Microsoft submitted to be
standardized.

So to answer your question, the assurance is that if you
implement the strict ECMA standard, you are OK. But if you
go beyond that, you are outside the scope of ECMA.

I have copied Jan van den Beld, ECMA Secretary General, on
this to provide more information on this if necessary. Also
read the official ECMA patent policy here:

> http://www.ecma.ch/memento/codeofconduct.HTM

Thanks,
- Joel Marcey

-----Original Message-----
From: Rhys Weatherley [mailto:rweather@zip.com.au]
Sent: Monday, February 10, 2003 11:40 PM
To: Marcey, Joel I
Subject: Microsoft Patent

Hi Joel,

No doubt you've seen the story on CNet regarding Microsoft
applying for a patent on the entire .NET Framework, API's,
runtime engine, and all (the URL's for the story and patent
application are below).

Obviously, this is of concern to the Portable.NET
developers, as our project is released under the GNU General
Public License, and royalty fees are therefore out of the
question.

Has Microsoft given an assurance to the ECMA that anyone can
implement the specification on a royalty-free basis?  If
they have, how much does it cover?  Just the ECMA subset, or
the rest of the .NET Framework classes?

Cheers,

Rhys.

> http://news.com.com/2100-1001-984052.html
> http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PG01&p=1&u=/netahtml/PTO/srchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1='20030028685'.PGNR.&OS=DN/20030028685&RS=DN/20030028685

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