[DotGNU]Fwd: RE: Microsoft Patent

[Rhys Weatherley]

Here is some information from the head of the ECMA working group responsible 
for the C# and CLI specifications on the patent issue.  I am following up 
with him to determine exactly what "RAND" means in this context.

Cheers,

Rhys.

----------  Forwarded Message  ----------

Subject: RE: Microsoft Patent
Date: Tue, 11 Feb 2003 22:22:53 -0800
From: "Marcey, Joel I" <address@hidden>
To: "Rhys Weatherley" <address@hidden>
Cc: "Smith, Scott D" <address@hidden>, "van den Beld Jan" 
<address@hidden>, "Andrew Clinick" <address@hidden>

Hello Rhys,

The way I understand it, and I am by know means a lawyer, is that you
can implement the strict ECMA standard, as it is currently specified,
without having to worry about royalties. In other words, Microsoft and
the rest of the member companies have agreed, via ECMA policy, that
anything submitted for use in ECMA standardization is available under
RAND licensing terms (as long as you are willing to provide the same
terms with anything you provide).

However, the entire .NET Framework is not covered by this agreement;
only that of which Microsoft submitted to be standardized.

So to answer your question, the assurance is that if you implement the
strict ECMA standard, you are OK. But if you go beyond that, you are
outside the scope of ECMA.

I have copied Jan van den Beld, ECMA Secretary General, on this to
provide more information on this if necessary. Also read the official
ECMA patent policy here:

http://www.ecma.ch/memento/codeofconduct.HTM

Thanks,
- Joel Marcey

-----Original Message-----
From: Rhys Weatherley [mailto:address@hidden
Sent: Monday, February 10, 2003 11:40 PM
To: Marcey, Joel I
Subject: Microsoft Patent

Hi Joel,

No doubt you've seen the story on CNet regarding Microsoft applying for
a
patent on the entire .NET Framework, API's, runtime engine, and all (the

URL's for the story and patent application are below).

Obviously, this is of concern to the Portable.NET developers, as our
project
is released under the GNU General Public License, and royalty fees are
therefore out of the question.

Has Microsoft given an assurance to the ECMA that anyone can implement
the
specification on a royalty-free basis?  If they have, how much does it
cover?
Just the ECMA subset, or the rest of the .NET Framework classes?

Cheers,

Rhys.

http://news.com.com/2100-1001-984052.html
http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PG0
1&p=1&u=/netahtml/PTO/srchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1='20030028685'.PGNR.&O
S=DN/20030028685&RS=DN/20030028685

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