RDF patent discussions

RDF IG,

As you know, several members of the RDF developer community have recently
received letters that suggest some RDF implementations may be covered by
US patents #5,684,985 and #6,092,077 held by Unified Data Technologies, Ltd.

W3C is in discussions with our lawyers to plan a response to the
situation. W3C has some previous experience with patent claims relating to W3C
specifications, for example P3P[1].

Until we have a better idea of the legal issues, we suggest that the
community refrain from rushing into a publically-visible prior art
analysis on the RDF and RSS mailing lists. Though this analysis may
become important, making such information publicly visible to all
(including the patent holders) may disadvantage the community in the
future should the matter become more contentious. A number of people have
contacted me offlist with historical references relating to RDF-like
technologies. Many thanks for these, although my hope is that we won't
need them. Until we have heard back from our lawyers, I encourage folk to
focus on non-patent topics on the www-rdf-* mailing lists.

Thanks,

Dan

W3C RDF Interest Group chair


 see also Daniel Weitzner's comments in the recent CNet piece,
 http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-8351560.html


[1] P3P context

 http://www.w3.org/1999/05/P3P-PatentPressRelease
   World Wide Web Consortium to Investigate Patent Validity
   W3C Issues Call to Developers for Information

 http://web3.w3.org/1999/10/28-P3P-IntermindPatentAnalysis-PressRelease
   World Wide Web Consortium Clears Patent Hurdle for Web Privacy
   Patent analysis indicates that compliance with the Platform for Privacy
   Preferences (P3P) is not likely to infringe Intermind Patent






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Received on Tuesday, 8 January 2002 17:18:35 UTC