Visa Europe disclosure of patents and exclusion of claims in Web Payments Working Group

Dear Web Payments Working Group,

Today Visa Europe carried out some actions consistent with the W3C Patent Policy [1]: they disclosed
some patents and excluded some claims from the Royalty-Free licensing requirement of the W3C Patent
Policy for deliverables of this Working Group. As the W3C Patent Policy states [2]:

 "In the event a patent has been disclosed that may be essential, but is not available under W3C RF licensing requirements,
  a Patent Advisory Group (PAG) will be launched to resolve the conflict.”

For documentation of the procedure that W3C staff follows to launch and operate a PAG, see:
 https://www.w3.org/2007/04/patent-exception-management

The W3C Legal Team has begun to discuss next steps and will provide an update this week or next.

Some questions and answers:

 * Can the Working Group continue to work?

    Yes. The Patent Policy says:
   "During the time that the PAG is operating, the Working Group may continue its technical work within the bounds of its charter.”

 * Can the Working Group discuss the disclosed patents?

   No. The Working Group should focus on technical work. Any discussion of patents should be limited to the PAG.

   IMPORTANT: Please, therefore, do not use this mailing list to express opinions about the disclosures.

   For the list of disclosed patents and excluded claims, see:
   https://www.w3.org/2004/01/pp-impl/83744/status#current-disclosures

Thank you,

Ian

[1] https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy-20040205/
[2] https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy-20040205/#sec-Exception
--
Ian Jacobs <ij@w3.org>      http://www.w3.org/People/Jacobs
Tel:                       +1 718 260 9447