Re: Patent notification for CSP 2.0 usage

> On 5 Aug 2021, at 11:54 , Matt Churchyard <matt@userve.net> wrote:
> 
> Hello,
>  
> I’m not sure where to ask about this, but as it’s part of the w3 CSP specification, someone here may be able to provide some input.
>  
> I am in the UK and have received a recorded letter telling me that the nonce feature of CSP2.0 is covered by a prior art patent (UK & US). The letter continues to state that “Licensing applies to any organisation making use of their software or the intellectual property pertaining to their patent”
>  
> Obviously this feature is a documented part of the CSP specification which is widely used, and honestly I’m a bit surprised to get a demand like this for something that is part of an open internet standard.
>  
> I have a good mind to argue back that the actual implementation of this feature is in the browser and therefore he should be chasing Google/Microsoft etc, in which case I doubt he’d get very far, but IANAL and have no idea how it is determined who is infringing/liable. Effectively we’ve been forced to just stop using this feature as my superiors are not happy about getting license/patent requests for something I’ve used in our website (even if it is simply a HTTP header).
>  
> This person seems to have simply crawled our website and found a nonce in the CSP header so I would be surprised if we’re the only business that have received this.
> Any advice on this or direction on where I can ask to get an informative response would be appreciated.
>  
> Regards,
> Matt Churchyard


Hello Matt,

The page <https://www.w3.org/groups/wg/webappsec/ipr> lists all patent disclosures to W3C (none).

W3C is not in a position to provide legal advice, but can point to EFF.org or Open Rights Group (UK) https://www.openrightsgroup.org/ as organizations with an interest in patent threats.

With kind regards,
Coralie Mercier, Head of W3C Marketing & Communications

--
Coralie Mercier  -  W3C Marketing & Communications -  https://www.w3.org
mailto:coralie@w3.org +337 810 795 22 https://www.w3.org/People/Coralie/

Received on Monday, 9 August 2021 08:24:56 UTC