Re: [W3C Web and TV IG] Adaptive streaming MPEG DASH liaison

On Fri, Mar 18, 2011 at 11:12 PM, Mark Watson <watsonm@netflix.com> wrote:
> There are no known patents AFAIK. If someone turns up with a solid patent
> and insists they deserve royalties for it, then I've no doubt it will be
> profiled out. But we are nowhere close to that yet and it's unlikely anyway
> for the reasons I've described. We should not assume we are in that
> situation unless and until we actually get there, that is all.
> ...Mark

If I find such a patent, should I disclose it ? And even if there is
none known as of today, what is the guarantee there won't be one
published tomorrow ? In which case the patent holder may well seek
retribution from a booming business. Among the companies/organisations
there will be those who can afford to pay anyway, and those who can't
and will have to abandon the technology and still being threatened for
having used it in the past, and leave the market to those who can
afford.

What are the guarantees that this cannot happen ? Is the MPEG, 3GPP
and/or W3C responsible for doing a deep patent search to make sure it
can be declared royalty free ?

Side Note: shouldn't it be a service provided by patent offices anyway ?

-- 
Steve Lhomme
Matroska association Chairman

Received on Saturday, 19 March 2011 09:54:59 UTC