Brian, thank you for bringing this info to the list. I see that the patent dates from January 1998. My question to the list is was there discussion on the items referenced in the patent prior to that timeframe. If so, we must resolve any potential conflicts gracefully here on the list.
John (Stracke), do you have some feedback you can share with us on this patent. I believe it is from the company with which you are associated and you may be able to provide some valuable assistance and input. I appreciate your help.
BrianW45@aol.com Sent by: owner-ietf-calendar@imc.org
12/28/99 01:42 AM
To: ietf-calendar@imc.org
cc:
Subject: Interesting Patent
Hi,
I have been interested in the ICAL specifications, and am looking forward to
their final developments, but one of my collegues hapened accross a Patent
which was just granted (5,960,406) which seems to patent many of the features
which were developed as part of this forum. Is that allowed? The patent is
for a product called eCal that is used in a calendar product called
appointnet. You can view the patent information via this link: <A
HREF="">
p=1&u=/netahtml/srchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1='5,960,406'.WKU.&OS=PN/5,960,406&R
S=PN/5,960,406">US Patent Office (Patent 5,960,406)</A>
I'm sure this is a matter of someone patenting a product which was developed
after the specifications were developed by other parties, but I was wondering
if it will cause any problems with people who want to develope Calandering
software based on the RFC's from iCalendar and don't know about the patnet
until they get a call from some lawyer.