Fwd: [native-lang] OpenOffice.org Joins the Call to Action in OASIS
FYI
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Subject: [native-lang] OpenOffice.org Joins the Call to Action in OASIS
Date: onsdag 23 februar 2005, 22:10
From: Louis Suarez-Potts <louis@openoffice.org>
To: discuss <discuss@openoffice.org>, announce@openoffice.org,
dev@native-lang.openoffice.org, open@rosenlaw.com
All,
OpenOffice.org joins with the other signatories to protest the patent
policy adopted by OASIS, the Organization for the Advancement of
Structured Information Standards, the international consortium
responsible for e-business standards.
The call to action, issued by noted open-source advocate and lawyer
Lawrence Rosen and signed by so far every key open source luminary,
protests the adoption by OASIS of a patent policy that permits, in
Rosen's words, "standards to be based upon so-called 'reasonable and
non-discriminatory' patent license terms--terms which invariably and
unreasonably discriminate against open source and free software to the
point of prohibiting them entirely. It would lead to the adoption of
standards that cannot be implemented in open source and free software,
that cannot be distributed under our licenses." [1]
We agree that, again in Rosen's words, "The OASIS patent policy will
encourage large patent holders to negotiate private arrangements among
themselves, locking out all free software and open source developers."
How does this patent policy affect OpenOffice.org? As an open-source
project, we are implicitly affected. But our file format, OpenDocument,
is not, though it is standardized by a committee associated with OASIS.
As David Wheeler has pointed out, the relevant "committee ground rules
specifically require a royalty-free license, avoiding this issue
entirely. This is clearly stated in their IPR statement at:
<http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/office/ipr.php>" To emphasize
the point, "OpenDocument is NOT affected" by this patent issue. [2]
Signed,
The OpenOffice.org Community Council
OpenOffice.org
---
[1]
<http://www.crynwr.com/cgi-bin/ezmlm-cgi?3:mss:9543:eipghffcblnbhjiggalm>
[2]
<http://www.crynwr.com/cgi-bin/ezmlm-cgi?3:mss:9544:flekopolmmghboadgcid>
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