Sam Hartman <hartmans-ietf(_at_)mit(_dot_)edu> writes:
"Simon" == Simon Josefsson <simon(_at_)josefsson(_dot_)org> writes:
Simon> "Frank Ellermann" <nobody(_at_)xyzzy(_dot_)claranet(_dot_)de>
writes:
>> Simon Josefsson wrote:
>>> I would even consider a requirement that in order to move
>>> beyond Proposed Standard, a protocol needs to have a free
>>> implementation available.
>> Tricky, e.g. my BOCU-1 implementation is "free" in a certain
>> sense, but I'm also sure that I don't have a license.
Simon> Do you refer to the IBM patent on BOCU? As far as I have
Simon> understood, IBM promised to grant a free patent license to
Simon> people who requested it, but people never received a
Simon> license despite requesting one. If this is accurate, I
Simon> think it is a good example of a technology that should not
Simon> be standardized and should not be promoted by the
Simon> community.
It seems very unlikely to me that IBM would choose to assert such a
patent against an implementation after having promised to give a free
license.
If you replace IBM with 'A Patent Troll', do you think the same holds?
I think not. If the IETF is going to have a policy on this, I believe
it is important for the policy to treat everyone the same.
I think that BOCU is a relevant example to show that promises to give a
patent license is not good enough. (That is assuming my understanding
of the BOCU example is correct; I haven't implemented or tried to get a
license myself, I have only read about others who have done so.)
If even IBM cannot do it properly, we have reason to not assume that
others will be able to do it. Especially those less supportive of the
free software community.
If we didn't know about the patent we would be happy to go use the
technology. Yet somehow that we know about the patent and we have
strong reason to suspect that we will never be bothered by the patent,
we are unwilling to depend on the technology? That makes no sense to
me.
Agreed, it doesn't make sense. However, if somebody other than IBM
proposes a technology and gives a patent license promise, I don't think
we have a strong reason to suspect we will never be bothered by their
patent.
/Simon
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