Apache falls victim to OASIS patent shelter

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Standards for standards

Clear essay on a complex topic.

You do acknowledge that your criteria for evaluating standards are personal frequently, but sometimes you make statements that show you think there's a single standard for standards.

For example:

But in addition to speed, OASIS also offers an incredibly patent friendly environment. It's the choice of vendors who want to get some specification out into the market ? one that has the imprimatur of OASIS on it ? without being bound to commonly accepted rules of openness (beauty, by the way, is in the eyes of the beholder).

OASIS is thus a means of evading the true approach to setting standards, and not a mechanism that suits the goals of the companies doing the work.


You also make the assumption that the only reason for using OASIS is business advantage, I think.

But what of Sun's point about meeting overarching goals for the standard?
There are problems with Sun's implementation of the goal, but maintaining what the originator thinks of as the purity of a standard is a rational intention, both for protecting its investment and as defense of an ideal.

And with so much litigation, can you blame a company proposing a standard for assuring that it will have some say in its exposure, whether individually or as part of an organization?

There's also the assurance of influence on the future development of the standard. The originator will want to be certain not to be damaged commercially in future by the actions of competitors.

The common theme in each of these examples is protection. Even if the standard never makes a nickel for the originator, there are other, benign motives.

Posted by: Anton Philidor   Posted on: 07/11/05 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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