+1 That is a legal quagmire that the IETF (like all good standards development groups) must avoid. Regards, Chuck ------------- Chuck Powers, Motorola, Inc phone: 512-427-7261 mobile: 512-576-0008 > -----Original Message----- > From: ietf-bounces@xxxxxxxx [mailto:ietf-bounces@xxxxxxxx] On > Behalf Of Thomas Narten > Sent: Friday, February 13, 2009 2:31 PM > To: Noel Chiappa > Cc: ietf@xxxxxxxx > Subject: Re: References to Redphone's "patent" > > jnc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Noel Chiappa) writes: > > > > From: "Lawrence Rosen" <lrosen@xxxxxxxxxxxx> > > > > the previous IPR WG .. refused even to discuss a > patent policy for IETF. > > > I thought the IETF sort of had one, though (see RFC mumble)? > > > I definitely agree that the IETF could use some sort of permanent > > legal IPR consulting board that WG's could go to and say 'we have > > this IPR filing, what does it mean, and what is the likely impact on > > our work'. > > Please don't go there. > > IPR consultation is all about risk analysis. And risk to the IETF > vs. risk to me personally vs. risk to my employer vs. risk to somebody > else's employer, etc. All are VERY different things. > > I don't see an IPR consulting board as being helpful at all. It will > still come down to someone else trying to tell *me* (or you) that I > (or you) shouldn't worry about something, yet it might well be *my* > (or your) skin if things go awry. > > The IETF absolutely and fundamentally needs stay out of evaluating the > merits of potential IPR and what the associated risks are. This is > fundamentally an individual decision that every implementor needs to > make on their own. > > This principle has been a bedrock of the IETF's IPR policy for a very > long time, and for good reason. > > Oh, and another important point, even when we have IPR disclosures, > they are often for patent applications, which are not public, nor have > they been issued (so they are only potential patents). In such cases, > there is precious little an advisory board could tell us, other than > "we don't know"... > > Thomas > _______________________________________________ > Ietf mailing list > Ietf@xxxxxxxx > https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf > _______________________________________________ Ietf@xxxxxxxx https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf