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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Dave wrote, in response to Peter:<br>
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<p class="MsoNormal">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.</p>
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<div dir="auto">Right, and my name is on some Google patents for
font UI stuff, which I am fine with for the same reasons. </div>
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<div dir="auto">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? </div>
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<p>Indeed, from my perspective, having a clear patent policy is the
primary (sole?) virtue of the ISO standardisation of OFF. <br>
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<p>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.<br>
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<p> Dave is right that inclusion in OFF should be a good case study
of patents in the format.</p>
<p>JH<br>
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<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
John Hudson
Tiro Typeworks Ltd <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.tiro.com">www.tiro.com</a>
Salish Sea, BC <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:tiro@tiro.com">tiro@tiro.com</a>
NOTE: In the interests of productivity, I am currently
dealing with email on only two days per week, usually
Monday and Thursday unless this schedule is disrupted
by travel. If you need to contact me urgently, please
use some other method of communication. Thank you.</pre>
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