Cart
|
[XML-DEV Mailing List Archive Home] [By Thread] [By Date] [Recent Entries] [Reply To This Message] Re: XPointer and the '729 patent
 Eve, while I am certain that you personally mean the best, I have reason to suspect that some of the patent lawyers at Sun are not being has helpful as they could be. After discussing this issue with a patent-attorney friend of mine, he explained that it seemed unlikely that Sun was truly trying its best to assist the W3C in this matter. He explained that there is a simple, inexpensive procedure called dedicating a patent to the public domain. This will permanently prevent enforcement of the patent, while still allowing it to be cited as prior art for future patents. It seems that this solution is a win for everyone. Sun could easily dedicate the patent by filing a few forms with the Patent Office. This would solve all of the problems. Eve L. Maler <eve.maler@e...> wrote: > 1 Request a reexamination of the '729 Patent at our own expense. > > As part of the reexamination, we request that you provide us with > any prior art of which you are aware so that Sun may submit any > relevant prior art to the U.S. Patent Office. Now why would Sun want to request reexamination, when this other option is available to them? It turns out that a company often will have their own patents reexamined -- but not to invalidate them. Instead, they will attempt to make their patents stronger. When a patent passes reexamination, a judge is much more likely to believe in the validity of the patent, and thus rule in favor of the patent owner. Thus, it seems likely that Sun may actually wish to strengthen their patent by this process. > 2 Consider specific requests for changes to the terms. > > In order to accommodate the concerns of the development community, > we are willing to consider alternative terms. We have already > received some comments along these lines, and additional comments > are welcome. It also seems unacceptable that Sun require any company that implements XPointer to relinquish their patent rights. This nonsensical clause will have the effect that no large companies will adopt the XPointer standard, because their patents are too important to them. It seems that the only fair solution is for Sun to dedicate their patent to the public domain. Anything less would be cheating the W3C and the XML community. -- [ Aaron Swartz | me@a... | http://www.aaronsw.com ] 
|
PURCHASE STYLUS STUDIO ONLINE TODAY!Purchasing Stylus Studio from our online shop is Easy, Secure and Value Priced! 
Download The World's Best XML IDE!Accelerate XML development with our award-winning XML IDE - Download a free trial today! Subscribe in XML format
|
|||||||||
