[OpenID] OpenID 2.0 is final

Fri Dec 7 06:05:42 UTC 2007

Actually, I think it is worse ;-) I have yet to see a lawyer who would  
say "this piece of code does not violate any IP" because it's  
basically impossible given the number of patents there is, the much  
larger number of patent interpretations that there are and might be,  
and the number of jurisdictions in which those might have been filed  
by parties nobody has ever heard of.

The best defense here is in numbers. Which means:

**
If you have not signed a non-assert but can easily do so, PLEASE DO  
and send it to the OpenID Foundation.
The more billions you have on your balance sheet, the better ;-)
**
Further say that you will do all sorts of nasty things to those people  
who are playing patent troll on published OpenID specifications.

That's the real deterrent.

On Dec 6, 2007, at 19:16, David Recordon wrote:

> I doubt that companies would share this knowledge if that have done  
> so.  What we've been working on within the Foundation is the ability  
> for Contributors (and others) to issues non-assertion agreements  
> around their IP and OpenID specifications.
>
> --David
>
> On Dec 6, 2007, at 11:52 AM, Peter Williams wrote:
>
>> Let me ask the question more openly. Has anyone else obtained a  
>> formal legal determination that their particular implemention of  
>> openid2 is not infringing on the ip of others (or that the usage  
>> falls within the scope of licensed rights)?
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Johannes Ernst <jernst+openid.net at netmesh.us>
>> Sent: Thursday, December 06, 2007 11:34 AM
>> To: Peter Williams <pwilliams at rapattoni.com>
>> Cc: general at openid.net <general at openid.net>
>> Subject: Re: [OpenID] OpenID 2.0 is final
>>
>> There is no legal advice involved, only the construction of the
>> documents that were signed and that are published on openid.net. Many
>> companies contributed their legal expertise, including Sun, Symantec,
>> Microsoft, Yahoo, IBM, VeriSign, and AOL among the big guys if I
>> recall this correctly. (Somebody please correct me if I forgot
>> anyone.) The companies that have signed those so far obviously had to
>> rely on their own views on whether to sign them or not, and those
>> views were strong enough that the process has dragged out for this
>> long ... but now we are done.
>>
>>
>> On Dec 6, 2007, at 7:39, Peter Williams wrote:
>>
>>> Who paid the legal bills and which law firm provided the patent
>>> counsel to the openid fundation?
>>>
>>> Is the legal advice available to all to see, or only foundation
>>> members?
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: Johannes Ernst <jernst+openid.net at netmesh.us>
>>> Sent: Wednesday, December 05, 2007 7:53 PM
>>> To: general at openid.net <general at openid.net>
>>> Subject: [OpenID] OpenID 2.0 is final
>>>
>>> Seems like nobody actually made the announcement to this list, so I
>>> might as well because it needs to be made ...
>>>
>>> This morning, at Internet Identity Workshop, after the last  
>>> remaining
>>> Non-Assertion Agreement was signed, Open ID Authentication 2.0 and
>>> Attribute Exchange 1.0 were declared final. The website has been
>>> updated to reflect this.
>>>
>>> This is important not just because of new specifications, but  
>>> because
>>> it clarifies the so far rather unclear intellectual property /  
>>> patent
>>> circumstances of these two specs as well as several previous  
>>> specs. In
>>> a nutshell, you can now implement all OpenID and Yadis  
>>> specifications
>>> without being afraid that contributors will sue you over patents,
>>> unless you sue them. (disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer and I'm not  
>>> giving
>>> legal advice.)
>>>
>>> The details of the IPR have been posted at
>>>   http://openid.net/foundation/intellectual-property/
>>>
>>> Thanks to the editors of the specs, all individuals and companies
>>> spending substantial time energy on the IPR process, the prodding  
>>> and
>>> cajoling, and not insignificant legal fees, the members of the  
>>> board,
>>> and the entire community.
>>>
>>> It's done! Now on to new great deeds! ;-)
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Johannes.
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> general mailing list
>>> general at openid.net
>>> http://openid.net/mailman/listinfo/general
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> general mailing list
>>> general at openid.net
>>> http://openid.net/mailman/listinfo/general
>>
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>