Re: ISO intellectual property (was Standards)[thanks]

[Justin Couch <justin@vlc.com.au>]

> I suppose pointing out that the ISO _could_ leverage the mystical 
> "IP" rights but _chooses_ not to... is not a bad thing either.
 
You could point this out, but you'd be wrong. ISO does not own any of
the IP in any of the standards that bear it's name. In fact it has a
decidedly anti-IP stance in that it refuses to actually do anything
about it. What it says is "we are a body that organises people that come
together to build a standard. We'll provide the paperwork and some
vetting mechanisms and a pretty name. You deal with everything else". 

That is, when someone goes to the ISO and asks them to look after a
standard, ISO says to them - Provide us your rules for the IP in your
standard work. In this way you get the VRML view ("everyone can use
whatever and we don't care") and the MPEG view ("there are so many
patented bits here nobody knows who owes who money"). ISO _cannot_ claim
IP rights because it never had them in the first place. They are a
facilitator, not a actuator.

Have a dig around on either /. or MP3.com for an article I wrote on this
way back in 1999. It's been reposted all over the net so a Google search
on my name and MP3 should turn up hundreds of links.

-- 
Justin Couch                         http://www.vlc.com.au/~justin/
Freelance Java Consultant                  http://www.yumetech.com/
Author, Java 3D FAQ Maintainer                  http://www.j3d.org/
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