On 5/10/12 2:30 AM, "SM" <sm@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: >There are times when it is difficult to keep assuming that people are >acting in a responsible fashion given the high levels of >unpleasantness. The situation can be such that simple gentle paths >are ignored. This is IMO perhaps more a reflection of the bizarre state of patent laws for software, processes, and methods around the world than the collective maliciousness of IETF participants. We may surely have some people with bad intentions but I think by and large it's more 'we're engineers and it's hard to figure out all this patent stuff' -- especially when the law keeps changing. Were it easy, the discussion/update a few years ago if IETF IPR policy would have taken only a week or two. I see the risks here including that this is the start of masses of lawyers showing up at every IETF, etc. That'd kinda be a bummer (no offense to lawyers). Jason