[MPEG-OTSPEC] MATH Encumbrance

[Behdad Esfahbod]

On Sun, Aug 23, 2020, 9:58 PM Dave Crossland <dcrossland at google.com> wrote:

>
>
> On Sun, Aug 23, 2020, 8:32 PM Behdad Esfahbod <behdad at behdad.org> wrote:
>
>> On Sun, Aug 23, 2020 at 2:11 PM Peter Constable <pgcon6 at msn.com> wrote:
>>
>>> It seems to me that there’s a good case study in that
>>> TrueType/TTO/OpenType have been with us for about 30 years and that, AFAIK,
>>> there have never been any patent suites or demands for licensing royalties
>>> throughout that time. (Someone correct me if I’m overlooking something.)
>>>
>>
>> That's not enough. Fedora continued turning off subpixel-rendering and
>> bytecode-interpretter in FreeType as long as the relevant MS patents were
>> not expired.
>>
>
> Those were held by Apple, as I recall
>

Subpixel-rendering was ClearType.

>
>
>>
>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Peter
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> *From:* mpeg-otspec <mpeg-otspec-bounces at lists.aau.at> * On Behalf Of *John
>>> Hudson
>>> *Sent:* Sunday, August 23, 2020 11:16 AM
>>> *To:* mpeg-otspec at lists.aau.at
>>> *Subject:* Re: [MPEG-OTSPEC] MATH Encumbrance
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Dave wrote, in response to Peter:
>>>
>>> I will say that I was a party in some patents in my time at MS that were
>>> filed solely for defensive purposes, never with any intent to charge
>>> licensing fees.
>>>
>>> Right, and my name is on some Google patents for font UI stuff, which I
>>> am fine with for the same reasons.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> But isn't the point of a formal standards body to get that intent turned
>>> into something in writing? And is that what OFF means? Or isn't it?
>>>
>>> Indeed, from my perspective, having a clear patent policy is the primary
>>> (sole?) virtue of the ISO standardisation of OFF.
>>>
>>> The MS math layout patents are yet another case of lack of explicit
>>> statement creating potential uncertainty. We can accept the likelihood that
>>> the patents were registered for defensive purposes, and that Microsoft
>>> would not seek licensing fees or restrict use based on those or other
>>> patents related to fonts, but likelihood and goodwill are not certainty.
>>>
>>> Dave is right that inclusion in OFF should be a good case study of
>>> patents in the format.
>>>
>>> JH
>>>
>>> --
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> John Hudson
>>>
>>> Tiro Typeworks Ltd    www.tiro.com <https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tiro.com%2F&data=02%7C01%7C%7Ca8424765d4e147d5757708d847908cfb%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637338033446186844&sdata=B65cPCYiCw9kaAeQ5EKCwmH9kPX9zPgQVV%2BXihlRCjo%3D&reserved=0>
>>>
>>> Salish Sea, BC        tiro at tiro.com
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>>
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>>>
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>>>
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