[whatwg] several messages regarding Ogg in HTML5

[Silvia Pfeiffer]

On Dec 12, 2007 11:38 AM, Dave Singer <singer at apple.com> wrote:
> Possible action:
>
> The members of the WG are engineers, not IPR experts. There is
> general consensus that a solution is desirable, but also that
> engineers are not well placed to find it:
> a) they are not experts in the IPR and licensing field;
> b) many of them are discouraged by their employers from reading
> patents or discussing IPR.
>
> It's clear that the December workshop cannot be silent on this
> subject.  There must be recognition of the issue and evidence of at
> least efforts to solve it, and preferably signs of progress.
>
> It is probable that this is best handled in parallel with the
> technical work, and headed by someone 'technically neutral' and
> qualified, such as W3C technical and legal staff.  A good start would
> be to:
> a) examine the declaration, licensing, and patent expiry situation
> for various codecs;
> b) contact the licensing authorities for various codecs to determine
> their level of interest and flexibility, and possibly invite them to
> the December workshop.

> c) analyze the open-source codecs for their risk level, and possibly
> seek statements from patent owners if that is deemed prudent;

What was the consensus on the "what to do" question? I would be quite
interested to get c) undertaken and see how real the submarine patent
threats are. Is that a real possibility for the W3C to do (I mean:
financially speaking)?

Also, if there is any potential that large patent owners could make
statements about the applicability of their patents to these open
specifications, the let's try it!

Regards,
Silvia.