Re: LYNX-DEV javascript-license

[David Woolley]

> However, it really shouldn't come down to that.  Netscape/Sun/Borland/M$
> have a vested interest in spreading the standard as far and wide as

Javascript was not Sun created by Sun.  Sun do have some interest
in spreading Java proper, but they put a condition on the use of the Java
trademark, and probably on the copyrights, that any implementation must
have passed on their test suite.  Basically they don't want Java to come
into disrepute because of poor or incomplete implementations.

I don't know the status of Javascript, although, I seem to remember
hearing that Netscape got permission from Sun to use the Java part of
the name.

(I would suspect that, outside the USA, at least, it would be easier
to protect the names of functions and keywords, than the actual grammar.)

> possible, which is why the grammar is now a European (and soon to be
> worldwide) standard.  [Kudos to Klaus for the tip, see
> <http://www.ecma.ch/stand/ecma-262.htm> for details].  While some
> standards are proprietary (the X500 series was given as an example), I

I think you are confusing the need to pay for the standards document,
which also applies to ASCII, RS232 and ANSI C, with royalties being required
to implement the standard (however, one use of X.500 is as a key server
and that may mean implementing the RSA public key algorithm, which is
proprietory in the USA - there are no known practical public key
algorithms on which there aren't US patents).

ECMA have traditionally produced free standards documents, but ISO
(and its members, like ANSI, DIN, BSI) and the ITU (formerly partly
called CCITT) have always sold the standards at high prices, to fund
their bureacracy and the international standardisation conferences
(ITU temporarily released their telecoms standards on the web, because
they thought that that wouldn't compete with the sales of paper copies,
but subsequently backed down).

> would guess that standards that are made freely available on the web are
> not.  Anyway, I'll send off a letter or two and find out for certain.

On the other hand, the Ada standard is available on the web, legally,
but you have to pay for an expensive certification procedure before you
can legally use the name Ada.  This is to maintain the purity of the
language.

The Secure Sockets Layer specification is also openly available on the
web, but there have been reports that Netscape have taken out software
patents on it (patenting software and patenting after publication are
possible in the USA, but not in the UK).

As a general rule, publication on the web is only publication; the only
intellectual property restriction that it would void would be commercial
confidentiality, but only if derived from material that wasn't obtained
in breach of a confidentiality agreement.


Whoops... maybe this list should be renamed into a list about the
standardisation process!

One final point, a lot of intellectual property restrictions are enforced
on a fear, uncertainty and doubt basis, rather than on case law.

Standard "I am not a lawyer" caveat applies.
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