Hi Ivaylo,

It is important to point out that IPR 6609 has been updated by IPR 6621 IPR 
Details - Antoine Delignat-Lavaud's Statement about IPR related to 
draft-birkholz-cose-cometre-ccf-profile<https://datatracker.ietf.org/ipr/6621/>.

After review with patent lawyers we have determined that 
draft-ietf-cose-merkle-tree-proofs is out of scope for US18/260763 as it only 
describes a generic format for Merkle Tree Proof. Only 
draft-birkholz-cose-receipts-ccf-profile<https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-birkholz-cose-receipts-ccf-profile/>
 is in scope for this patent and the IPR has been updated accordingly.

Best,
Antoine

________________________________
From: Ivaylo Petrov <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 11, 2025 12:34
To: Paul Wouters <[email protected]>; Cose Chairs Wg 
<[email protected]>; cose <[email protected]>
Subject: [COSE] Re: Second WGLC draft-ietf-cose-merkle-tree-proofs due to IPR

Dear all,

I'd like to follow up on the previous WGLC announcement regarding 
draft-ietf-cose-merkle-tree-proofs. As a reminder, the previous email requested 
your input on whether the disclosed IPR impacts your support for publication of 
this document.

To facilitate the next steps in this process, I kindly request your response by 
February 11th (2 weeks from now). Feel free to only reply to the WG chairs. 
Please indicate whether:

* (a) You require additional time to form an opinion.
* (b) You have an opinion (please share it).
* (c) You do not have an opinion.
* (d) You have an alternative proposal for a path forward.

Your timely response will be greatly appreciated and will assist us in moving 
forward.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

--
Ivaylo


On Thu, Jan 16, 2025 at 10:15 AM Ivaylo Petrov 
<[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
Dear all,

In light of https://datatracker.ietf.org/ipr/6609/, please answer the following 
question in relation to draft-ietf-cose-merkle-tree-proofs [0].

Does this IPR disclosure impact your support for publication of this document?

[0]: https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-ietf-cose-merkle-tree-proofs-07

Before answering the question above, please read through the following quote 
[1] from another working group that you might find helpful in relation to the 
process regarding Intelectual property Rights at the IETF.

[1]: https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/msg/core/-8jgb0jpEOpPjfJyfkIcVcpx5F0/

    Note that, in the IETF, patent claims are usually called "IPR"
    ("Intellectual Property Rights"), independent of whether there are any
    actual rights or what "IPR" may apply beyond patent claims (for
    instance, there are usually copright claims or similar droit
    d'auteur/Urheberrecht on the text of a draft).

    So, focusing on patent claims, before answering the WGLC, PLEASE
    REVIEW the IETF procedures for dealing with such claims, as recorded
    in BCP 79 (currently RFC 8179 [2]).

    [2]: https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8179

    In general, in the IETF it is up to a WG to consider the impact of
    patent claims on a technology and to decide whether a potentially
    encumbered technology should be agreed on or whether alternative
    technologies should be pursued.
    (IESG members may be interested in a WG's record of making this
    decision, but the rules notably do not put them in a position to
    second-guess that decision.
    Neither are the WG chairs, which however do need to gauge the WG
    consensus on a particular decision.)

    Please note that one weird aspect of the patent law that governs
    several of the jurisdictions under which members of the WG operate is
    that plausibly having knowledge about a patent claim can create
    additional liability for those WG members (as individuals or for their
    companies).
    We therefore generally DO NOT discuss details of patent claims on WG
    mailing lists.

    However, WG members will need to factor in information about patent
    claims when making the decision whether to be in favor of a document
    advancing after a WG call.
    They may need to obtain some of the necessary input from separate
    sources, such as corporate lawyers, which may require additional time
    -- <redacted due to irrelevance>.
    Your lawyers may be interested in whether the patent claims actually
    "read" on the specification under consideration (i.e., claim patent
    rights on some aspect of it) and whether that specific claim is
    sufficiently likely to be enforceable to be of interest for the
    decision of the organization.

    Note that this is a legal decision, and as such not subject to a logic
    that engineers might understand.
    There is therefore little reason to fall into armchair lawyering on
    the mailing list, and, as I mentioned, that would likely be
    detrimental for some WG members (having caused WG members to
    unsubscribe and cease their activities in a WG before).
    Also, you definitely do not want to appear to give legal advice.

Thank you
--
Ivaylo on behave of the COSE chairs

P.S: This email was drafted after a discussion with my co-chair and feedback on 
https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/browse/wgchairs/?gbt=1&index=GlwPylkPBsHgffuJXEr-_ZhlxFg.

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