- From: Chris Wilson <Chris.Wilson@microsoft.com>
- Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2007 10:59:36 -0700
- To: Maciej Stachowiak <mjs@apple.com>, Ben Meadowcroft <ben@benmeadowcroft.com>
- CC: 'Ian Hickson' <ian@hixie.ch>, 'HTML WG' <public-html@w3.org>
Maciej Stachowiak wrote: >The W3C has always had a policy of taking input from the general >public via public mailing lists that impose no special obligations to >subscribe. For example, the CSS working group accepts public comments >on its drafts via www-style@w3.org, despite also having a completely >private list. And if a commenter on the public list were suggesting a patentable invention, I would expect the CSS WG to follow up with that commenter to sign the patent policy. >Note also that whether something is covered by a patent may bear no >relation to who suggested it. If I unwittingly suggest an idea that, >for example, IBM has a patent on, the fact that Apple agreed to the >patent policy affords no protection. That's never been the issue when I've brought up patent policy as a concern. This isn't about the Eolas case, for example, and never has been. The issue that patent policy protects against is Joe Schmoe sending in a "good idea" that he knowingly has IP on (or that his company has IP rights on), and it gets adopted - and then he can sue the implementers. The provenance of any significant contribution is important. -Chris
Received on Thursday, 12 April 2007 17:59:47 UTC