Xiph.org Comments For the FTC's Patents Workshop 65
Freddybear writes "Xiph.org, makers of ogg audio and theora video codecs, submitted a detailed proposal to the FTC for the patents workshop. Their proposal recommends changes which would help to eliminate the practice of 'submarine' patents regarding standardized technologies. Quoting: 'The Xiph.Org Foundation recommends that the FTC work to require specific, ex ante disclosure of patents or patent applications that would read on standards under development, that failure to disclose exhaust the patent, and assertion of such a patent ex post be deemed anti-competitive. This should apply not only to standards development activities that the patent holder participates in or knows about, but those it should have known about. Furthermore, vague infringement allegations or activities designed to avoid an SSO's disclosure requirements or undermine the standards process should also be deemed anti-competitive.'"
Re:WTF??? (Score:5, Informative)
That means that if a company, no matter how big or small, ever files a patent that relates to video compression, they have to suddenly join every single standards body just so they can tell those standards bodies that things they're looking into infringe on patents? At what point is this company supposed to move on and do engineering work?
I believe these companies would only be under an obligation to disclose patents if they are active in the setting of a related standard. The goal here us to prevent people from helping to develop a standard reliant on a patent they just happened to forgot they held.