John Levine wrote:
In North America, at least, experimentation per se doesn't infringe
patents.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Research_exemption
Once again, I wish non-lawyers would ask question before interpreting the
patent law. The experimentation exception referred to in that wikipedia
article [§271(e)(1) or "Hatch-Waxman" exemption] is largely relevant to
pharmaceuticals in process of tests and experiments for regulatory approval.
It has nothing whatsoever to do with software that doesn't get approved by
anyone.
Is that what IETF's "April Fools RFCs" are about? Perhaps drugs will improve
Internet performance. It is worth an experiment....
Alessandro Vesely wrote:
This habit of requiring two lawyers and a judge
for every pair of citizens is really annoying. It is the main reason
for seeking unencumbered environments, IMHO. Software is complicated
enough already.
Fortunately for all of us, there aren't quite that many lawyers. So practice
your complicated engineering and let us lawyers do our job.
/Larry
-----Original Message-----
From: ietf-bounces(_at_)ietf(_dot_)org
[mailto:ietf-bounces(_at_)ietf(_dot_)org] On Behalf Of
Alessandro Vesely
Sent: Sunday, March 15, 2009 11:14 AM
To: John Levine
Cc: ietf(_at_)ietf(_dot_)org
Subject: Re: Consensus Call for draft-housley-tls-authz
John Levine wrote:
Apparently, publishing a message as "experimental" is an invitation
by the IETF to experiment with a new protocol. What sense does that
bear, if accepting IETF invitations is likely to result in legal
troubles?
In North America, at least, experimentation per se doesn't infringe
patents.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Research_exemption
However, it is difficult to exactly trace a boundary between normal
exploitation of a patent and a strictly controlled experiment. For
example, I don't think that all the mail hubs currently using SPF
would be considered mere experiments, but SPF is still experimental.
Of course, if publishing as experimental explicitly included licenses,
that idea might work.
Can we stop playing Junior Lawyer now, please?
That's what I'd hope. This habit of requiring two lawyers and a judge
for every pair of citizens is really annoying. It is the main reason
for seeking unencumbered environments, IMHO. Software is complicated
enough already.
_______________________________________________
Ietf mailing list
Ietf(_at_)ietf(_dot_)org
https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf
_______________________________________________
Ietf mailing list
Ietf(_at_)ietf(_dot_)org
https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf