Since I'm not at my best in being clear this week......
I agree very much with ESR that current US IPR practices are a huge problem, and that the IETF needs to deal with these issues in a rational fashion.
Unlike ESR, I think that it's possible to find such a rational fashion within the formal structure of the present IETF IPR rules - that we have a number of patents on IETF-specified technology that do not create any problem for implementors, and that we need to build on and extend those examples into true "best current practices" (the OTHER meaning of the term, not "IETF rules").
I don't think the IETF can rid the commons of patents.
I do think we (the community) have a chance at finding ways to render those patents that crop up in the commons harmless.
But that's not what keeps me awake nights *this* week....
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