Pekka Savola <pekkas@xxxxxxxxxx>: > > Think harder. The problem with area-of-application rules is isomorphic > > to the "commercial/noncommercial" problem. The really nasty cases are > > near service libraries. > > Maybe you should spell this out. > > For example, service libraries need not be a problem. Consider a > service library which infringes a patent on SIP, which is to be > restricted to interoperability with the SIP protocol. There is no > issue if the service library is only useful with SIP, because all the > use cases of the service library (excluding looking at the code and > taking away the code) would be OK by the policy. > > Obviously, there is a problem if a patent claims to invent something > commonplace such as 'xml', and grants its use only for the purpose of > IETF standards or a specific standard. But I'm not sure if I recall > something like that. What happens when I want to re-use (say) a hash function from a library with patent coverage and an area-of-application rule on the patent license? -- <a href="http://www.catb.org/~esr/";>Eric S. Raymond</a> _______________________________________________ Ietf@xxxxxxxx https://www1.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf