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A note from the acting chair: Patents and the P1788 working group

Dear P1788 members,

I have started to study IEEE policy concerning patents, and
the issue is being discussed among the officers.  Along these
lines, the IEEE requires the chair to issue a "call for patents"
at the beginning of each meeting.  The call for patents includes
showing the slides that I have attached.  Please study them
for yourself.

I have gathered that:

0. The chair should issue a "call for patents" at the beginning
   of each meeting.

1. Anyone with knowledge of a patent that could have a bearing
   on the standard should point it out.

2. Under certain conditions, a patent holder should submit a
   Letter of Assurance to IEEE.  I have also attached the
   letter of assurance form, to be filled out by patent
   holders.  (The letter of assurance is probably a good idea for
   someone who might have an "essential patent claim," where "essential
   patent claim" means one such that the standard cannot be
   implemented without a license corresponding to that patent.)

3. The secretary should record patents that are mentioned.

4. See the last slide in the attached slides.  In particular, there
   are certain things that should not be discussed at meetings,
   including interpretation, validity, or essentiality of patent
   claims.  Furthermore, people should object if such things are
   discussed.

Since we intend to conduct substantial business by email, we
need to adhere to these rules.  I suggest that, instead of
the "call for patents" at the beginning of each meeting, the
chair (or acting chair) issue an official call for patents
quarterly.  That said, here is my view of how we are doing
so far with these procedures:

0. Bob Davis has, essentially, issued a "call for patents"
   with his informal inquiry about whether interval arithmetic
   can be implemented without patent licenses.  Consider
   this email to be a corresponding formal call for patents.

1. Arnold Neumaier, Siegfried Rump, Nate Hayes, and others
   have contributed their knowledge of patents.  In particular,
   Arnold has listed all of the patents of which he is aware,
   and Nate has explained patents that Sunfish Studios owns.

2. I suggest that Sunfish Studios submit a Letter of Assurance.
   (The form is the second attachment to this email.)  As far
   as I can tell, this document is mainly a statement that
   there is a patent that potentially impacts the standard,
   and a statement of the patent holder's position regarding
   licensing, but does not obligate or constrain the holder.
   However, please read it and interpret it yourself.

   Sun Microsystems should also probably submit a Letter of Assurance.
   (David Hough: Can you do that?)

3. I will contact William Edmonson (our secretary) concerning
   required recording into the minutes of the patents that
   have been mentioned.

4. Regarding inappropriate discussion, I feel we have failed
   somewhat in this regard.  In particular, several of us
   (me included, unfortunately) have discussed interpretation,
   validity, and essentiality of patents.  This is against
   IEEE policy at meetings, and, since postings to this
   mailing list constitute both formal proceedings and discussion
   at an "electronic meeting," we should not discuss such things
   further on the stds-1788 list.  (Of course, private discussion
   cannot be prohibited, but it shouldn't be posted on the IEEE
   list.)  I am sorry that I did not catch this policy sooner,
   and I apologize for violating it myself.

As far as I can tell so far, the actual standard wording is
not constrained by patents, but implementation of it may be.
(I am continuing to study IEEE policies and documents.)

Sincerely,

Baker
--

---------------------------------------------------------------
R. Baker Kearfott,    rbk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx   (337) 482-5346 (fax)
(337) 482-5270 (work)                     (337) 993-1827 (home)
URL: http://interval.louisiana.edu/kearfott.html
Department of Mathematics, University of Louisiana at Lafayette
(Room 217 Maxim D. Doucet Hall, 1403 Johnston Street)
Box 4-1010, Lafayette, LA 70504-1010, USA
---------------------------------------------------------------

Attachment: patent-slideset-to-be-shown-at-each-meeting.pdf
Description: Adobe PDF document

Attachment: letter-of-assurance-form.pdf
Description: Adobe PDF document