Re: (Second) Last Call for XPointer 1.0

["Eve L. Maler" <eve.maler@east.sun.com>]

As Daniel has pointed out, this situation existed long before I joined Sun 
or became a co-chair.  For the record, I "recused" myself and let Daniel 
take on sole chairmanship duties whenever the Working Group discussed this 
matter, and I simply did my duty as Sun's W3C Advisory Committee 
representative in dealing with our attorneys on the development of the 
terms and conditions (though I did do my best to ensure that the terms were 
reasonable).  I regret that my involvement gives the appearance that I'm 
some kind of linchpin, but the fact is that it was just coincidence.

Note that comments on the terms should be sent to me and to Marc Foodman 
(ipman@east.sun.com) to ensure that we see them all; you can copy 
patent-issues@w3.org if you wish.  I will forward Tim's recommendation.

         Eve

At 10:58 AM 1/9/01 -0800, Tim Bray wrote:
>At 09:35 AM 09/01/01 -0500, Elliotte Rusty Harold wrote:
> > It's
> >also come to light in this draft that Sun claims a patent on some of
> >the technologies needed to implement XPointer.
>...
> >I think this is particularly offensive
>
>Offensive or not, it's a big problem.
>
>I personally think that there might be a place in the world for
>some software patents (not all the arguments in favor of them
>are bogus) but the PTO risks making the point moot in devaluing
>whatever currency might be there by stamping their official
>seal on this kind of thing.
>
>The responsible thing for Sun to do would be to issue an
>official declaration that the patent has no standing in respect
>of XPointer, and that to the extent that it does, Sun grants
>an unrestricted, free, license to anyone to implement and use
>it without incurring any obligations of any kind on account
>of the patent.   Were they to do this, they'd deserve our
>praise.
>
>Without this, if you happen to be a competitor of Sun, can
>you implement XPointer and be confident that you won't
>be subject to expensive product-delaying litigation?  Could I,
>as an executive of such a company, responsibly place any
>nontrivial bets on XPointer?  I don't think so.
>
>XPointer, D.O.A.
>
>-Tim

--
Eve Maler                                          +1 781 442 3190
Sun Microsystems XML Technology Center    eve.maler @ east.sun.com