Re: [xml-dev] Re: W3C ridiculous new policy on patents

[John Cowan <jcowan@reutershealth.com>]

Bullard, Claude L (Len) wrote:

> It is a PIA to be working on a public list 
> and have someone send me email that says:
> 
> "Be advised that we patented the concept of tagging 
> human emotions, see http://upchuck.com "
> 
> and know that if you look at that page, you may be 
> bound to its terms.  That sort of thing is bad law 
> and must be changed.   If someone wants me to look, 
> they must give up the right to encumber me by the 
> fact I looked.

In U.S. patent law you are bound whether you look or not,
whether you know or not, whether you independently
developed the idea or not.  (Some other legal systems
have a safe harbor for independent development.)
A patent right is as self-subsisting as a property
right in land: it is no defense to trespassing that
you didn't know the land was not in the public
domain.

In the U.S. you implement totally at your peril.

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