Subject: Patent Policy
From: Gabesmoretti@aol.com
Date: Thu Jun 19 2003 - 10:37:37 PDT
Since there has been some discussion regarding the DASC patent policy, I
thought it might be interesting for all of you to see what is going on within the
IEEE-SA on the subject.
1) PatCom is currently reviewing all materials within the Standards
Association that reflect patent policy for consistency.
2) ANSI considers that Letters of Assurance apply to those implementing the
standard outside of the US. Future clarifications will include both
perspectives: global licensing of US patents and disclosure of patents held in other
jurisdictions.
3) ANSI is updating the definitions in their patent policy.
4) ANSI is reviewing if an accredited standards developer can deviate from
the ANSI patent policy and, if so, to what extent.
5) There was a discussion of the activities of the FTC's review of patent
policies of standards development organizations. A report is due from the FTC
sometime this year.
Since the IEEE is an SDO under ANSI, we must comply with whatever ANSI
decides.
It is possible for IEEE-SA to adopt more stringent regulations, although this
would be subject to the limits defined according to item 4. In any case I do
not see the IEEE adopting a policy that is more lenient than ANSI. So, the
best course of action is to watch what will develop within ANSI.
Gabe Moretti
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b28 : Thu Jun 19 2003 - 10:43:12 PDT