Re: Official statement from Microsoft concerning CSS, XSL and US Pate nt No. 5,860,073

>>>>> "CW" == Chris Wilson <cwilso@MICROSOFT.com> writes:

 CW> There has been much discussion of this issue on both of these
 CW> lists, so I thought it might be appropriate to forward this
 CW> statement to these lists as well.

 >> "Microsoft agrees that any W3C member or other party will be able
 >> to obtain a license under Microsoft's US Patent No. 5,860,073 to
 >> implement and use the technology described in W3C Recommendations
 >> for Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and the EXtensible Style Language
 >> (XSL) for the purpose of supporting such standards, on a
 >> royalty-free basis. One condition of this license shall be the
 >> party's agreement to not assert patent rights against Microsoft
 >> and other companies for their implementation of those
 >> standards. Microsoft expressly reserves all other rights it may
 >> have in the material and subject matter of this contribution."
 >> -Chris Wilson Internet Explorer Team Microsoft Corporation

Pardon the language, but this is just plain bullshit. There exists a
huge amount of prior art, so that patent is just not worth the paper
it is written on.

Anyone asking Microsoft for a licence such as mentioned will only help 
Microsoft maintain the illusion that the patent is valid.


-- 
Rasmus Kaj ---------------- rasmus@kaj.a.se - http://www.e.kth.se/~kaj/
 \                                   If you're happy, you're successful
  \--------------------------------------------- http://www.Raditex.se/

Received on Friday, 12 March 1999 04:22:43 UTC