Subject: [MEDIACTRL] IPR on MRB

From: "Eric Burger" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 7 Nov 2007 14:04:28 -0800

We have been notified of U.S. and foreign patents applied for by AT&T
that may be relevant to draft-boulton-mediactrl-mrb-00.  The disclosure
is at https://datatracker.ietf.org/ipr/898/ .

The first application is at:
http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u
=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PG01&s1=11%
2F321760&OS=11/321760&RS=11/321760

The second application is at:
http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u
=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PG01&s1=11%
2F321734&OS=11/321734&RS=11/321734

In AT&T's declaration to the IETF, they are offering RAND terms.

Spencer and I have discussed the disclosure and we do not believe we
should, at this time, change our course.  We would welcome your
feedback, IN PRIVATE, OFF-LIST, if you think this is a show-stopper on
the MRB draft.

Items that are particularly out-of-bounds for the mediactrl list are:
 -  Licensing terms
 -  The validity of the application
 -  Are patents in general valid
 -  Are patents good
 -  Are patents evil
 -  "I am from the Patents-are-Evil wing of the Popular Front for
Software Freedom, and I will object to anything that smacks of
intellectual discussion."

Our purpose for this notice is simply to make people aware of AT&T's
disclosure.

Further discussion ON THE LIST of this topic will be looked upon
extremely poorly by your chairs.

If you happen upon a way of working around the claimed IPR, that is
great and WOULD be a welcome discussion on the list.

If you happen to have prior art that totally invalidates AT&T's
application, that is your business and not the business of the IETF.
However, we would encourage you to contact the USPTO directly to ensure
the examiners are aware of the prior art.  Just as a reminder, AT&T's
disclosure is of a pair of patent applications, not of patents.  Their
disclosure does not indicate there will ever be a patent, that the
patent will include the claims in the disclosure, that AT&T will not
decide to offer the IPR royalty free, or that AT&T will not decide to
abandon the patent application before it issues.

NONE of those topics are appropriate for discussion on the mediactrl
list.

Thank you,
Your Humble Chairs,
Eric and Spencer

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