Harald Alvestrand <harald(_at_)alvestrand(_dot_)no> writes:
Simon Josefsson wrote:
Harald Alvestrand <harald(_at_)alvestrand(_dot_)no> writes:
You can't change your earlier public statement; that would be
tampering with the historical record.
The IETF appears to permit patent disclosures to be removed at the
request of submitters. Search for 'remove' on the list if disclosures.
Is this intentional? Is there anything in our procedures that explains
why this is a useful thing? Does our procedures even permit removals?
It can be useful to review earlier patent disclosures from a company,
since they often contains text that is revised in later versions.
Seeing how text evolves often gives some understanding of the reasons
for the change.
When we discussed the procedures (Barbara and I basically invented the
details between us), we thought that the normal case should be "record
is public forever").
However, if people were filing disclosures that would not be useful
(slanderous statements, duplicate-by-accident filings, stuff that
turns out to be false and which the submitter wants redacted), we
thought that having the discretionary ability to remove disclosures
was a Good Thing.
I don't know how practice has evolved since I left the chair position.
It would be useful if those responsible for the current practice would
comment on what the process is to remove patent disclosures, and what
the grounds for removing disclosures should be. It seems like some
companies can tamper with the historical record but others can't.
The number of patent disclosures that have been removed from the IETF
patent disclosure page are, at least, per year:
2008: 1
2007: 2
2006: 4
2005: 0
2004: 2
2003: 2
This is based on searching for 'remove' on the patent disclosure page.
I haven't checked whether the ID # numbering have any holes in them.
At least one of the removed patent licenses promises to make available
patent licenses on fair, reasonable, reciprocal and non-discriminatory
terms. It seems unfortunate that IETF allows organizations to file such
claims and permits them be removed later, presumably when the
organization change their minds.
/Simon
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