Summary of 3 June 2002 Patent Policy Working Group Teleconference

Hello,

   Twenty two people attended the 3 June 2002 Patent Policy Working
   Group (PPWG) teleconference. Four of the group's five new
   participants attended and gave introductions.

   The group then discussed patent discussions that took place at the
   semiannual W3C Advisory Committee Meeting that was held in May.

   One person suggested that the PPWG give new W3C-specific names to
   its proposed licensing options, as the commonly understood meanings
   of RAND and RF are not what is described, and hence introduce
   confusion. The group agreed.

   One person reported that at the AC Meeting, discussion focused on
   the Current Patent Practice Note, and asked whether the PPWG needs
   to produce anything more.

   The RAND task force gave a report on their RAND exception proposal
   that parallels the RF policy drafts. In this proposal, if RAND
   technology were introduced, Working Group participants would be
   required to license on RAND terms, and there would be no opt out
   for that Working Group's last published document.

   There was some discussion of the term "reasonable" with respect to
   free and open source software, and of the Patent Advisory Group
   (PAG) section of the current Working Group draft that would require
   Advisory Committee review and Director's decision when PAGs reach a
   conclusion.

   The group discussed preliminary logistics for their upcoming face
   to face meeting in July. The Chair gave a PPWG overview for new
   participants. The group agreed to meet next on 10 June.

Best wishes,
-- 
Susan Lesch           http://www.w3.org/People/Lesch/
mailto:lesch@w3.org               tel:+1.858.483.4819
World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)    http://www.w3.org/

Received on Tuesday, 11 June 2002 04:47:20 UTC