Re: New Hewlett Packard patent may be a barrier to Semantic Web services adoption

I don't have a "legal department to challenge the patent", but in case it helps:

   http://www.ninebynine.org/SWAD-E/Scenario-HomeNetwork/HomeNetworkConfig.html

This was work I did around 2002-03, and includes use of RDF technologies to set 
access controls on a Cisco IOS router, which appears to correspond to the first 
primary claim of the patent:

[[
1. An enforcement system for enforcing policies with regard to service requests 
comprising a processor-readable, non-transient medium storing code representing 
instructions that when executed at a processor cause the processor to implement: 
a plurality of enforcer agents adapted to enforce policies; at least one 
explorer agent adapted to evaluate policy enforcement capabilities available to 
the enforcement system; and a policy decision point adapted to identify the 
policies that need to be enforced for a service request and to pass this 
information to at least one enforcer agent to enforce the identified policies.
]]

I recall there was also an Internet draft published about this time that talked 
about using RDF in a network management control layer: see 
http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-atarashi-netconfmodel-architecture-00.

#g
--


On 31/07/2013 20:15, Martin Hepp wrote:
> Dear all:
>
> Yesterday, Hewlett Packard has been granted a patent on "Policy Enforcement":
>
> 	http://www.freepatentsonline.com/8498959.html
> 	http://www.freepatentsonline.com/8498959.pdf
>
> As far as I can see, it heavily constrains the commercial exploitation of research done in the Semantic Web / Semantic Web Services community from 2001-2009.
>
> So if you worked on policies in the context of Semantic Web Services or Semantic Business Process Management before November 2009, it may be worthwhile to check whether the patent claims inventions that you can prove to have been prior art at that time.
>
> This may be particularly relevant for the organizers and contributors to the various policy workshops co-located with ISWC/ESWC conferences.
>
> I am not familiar with the legal process, but if you feel this patent claims what was already publicly known / discussed at conferences back then, please ask your employer or legal department to challenge the patent. It may otherwise put the usage of SWS in business applications at risk.
>
> Best wishes
>
> Martin
>
> --------------------------------------------------------
> martin hepp
> e-business & web science research group
> universitaet der bundeswehr muenchen
>
> e-mail:  hepp@ebusiness-unibw.org
> phone:   +49-(0)89-6004-4217
> fax:     +49-(0)89-6004-4620
> www:     http://www.unibw.de/ebusiness/ (group)
>           http://www.heppnetz.de/ (personal)
> skype:   mfhepp
> twitter: mfhepp
>
>
>

Received on Thursday, 1 August 2013 15:58:08 UTC