Hi,
Sorry to follow myself up, but I have further information
which may be relevant to establishment of prior art for
IPv6 Stateless Address Autoconf.
The previous e-mails' description of existing published
documents may only describe 102(a) prior art, (As
described by PUBPAT's own information on prior art).
As such, it is susceptible to a prior unpublished
invention date by the patent holders (documented
internally to the patent holder's Lab for example).
There seems to be evidence though that
FTP software was shipping IPv6 code with SAA
more than 1 year before the patent was applied for
(August 1996 ship):
www.connectathon.org/talks97/helen.pdf
This would constitute 102(b) prior art if the
presentation's contents were true.
In that case, there could not be applicability of this
patent to IPv6 Stateless Address Autoconfiguration,
so long as the product was available in the USA at the
time (as far as I can tell).
Greg
Greg Daley wrote:
Hi Margaret,
I'm not sure how this affects the IPR notification,
but I've had a quick look at existing art available
at the time of the patent application.
There are existing specifications of IPv6 autonomous
address configuration in published drafts which
significantly predate the patent application (> 12 months).
This I guess, it substantively the same as the current
RFC2462bis, and RFC2462 (and RFC1971 - August 1996).
The descriptions of Address configuration with DAD were
also described in earlier published drafts:
http://www.watersprings.org/pub/id/draft-ietf-addrconf-ipv6-auto-02.txt
And a fairly complete description of how DAD works (with
different message names) is contained in the earlier version:
http://www.watersprings.org/pub/id/draft-ietf-addrconf-ipv6-auto-01.txt
The latest of these two documents is dated June 5, 1995
(although it may have been received in the repository later?).
Since provisional patent applications have only been supported
for IPR protection since June 8 1995, and the Patent application
for patent number 6,101,499 is April 8, 1998 (and doesn't
reference any provisional application anyway), my guess is that
the existing draft publications provide a clear prior art for
IPv6 autonomous addressing.
Provisional applications description:
http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/provapp.htm
Actually, given the wealth of existing IPv6 autonomous address
configuration techniques, it's amazing that there's no reference
to them in the description of the patent, made at application time.
Clearly, I'm not able to provide legal advice about this
situation, but the above information may be able to help someone
who is.
Greg Daley.
Margaret Wasserman wrote:
FYI --
The official disclosure will probably be posted by the secretariat
shortly, but in the meantime I thought that the IPv6 WG should be
aware of this incoming IPR notification.
Margaret
Date: Mon, 24 Oct 2005 12:01:49 -0400
From: Dan Ravicher <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
X-Accept-Language: en-us, en
To: Margaret Wasserman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
Mark Townsley <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
Robert Hinden <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
Brian Haberman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Fwd: IPR Notification
X-Spam: [F=0.0001020200; B=0.500(0); S=0.010(2005092001);
MH=0.500(2005102404); R=0.010(s3/n722); SC=none; spf=0.500]
Dear Ms. Wasserman and Messrs. Townsley, Hinden and Haberman:
The Public Patent Foundation ("PUBPAT") formally notified IETF today
of the existence of intellectual property rights that may relate to
technology described in IETF documents. Specifically, U.S. Patent
No. 6,101,499 ("the '499 patent") owned by Microsoft Corporation may
relate to RFC 2462 - IPv6 Stateless Address Autoconfiguration and RFC
2464 - Transmission of IPv6 Packets over Ethernet Networks
(collectively referred to as "IPv6"). A copy of the formal
notification appears below.
As stated in the notification, although others have disclosed the
'499 patent with respect to IPv4, its claims may also relate to IPv6.
For example, claims 1 and 30 could relate to the technology described
in RFC 2462. However, other than identifying this potential
relationship, PUBPAT takes no position regarding the validity or
scope of the '499 patent.
If PUBPAT can provide any further information or be of any other
assistance to IETF in its review of this matter, including perhaps
raising this issue with the entire IPv6 Working Group, should that be
desirable, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Sincerely,
Daniel B. Ravicher
Executive Director
Public Patent Foundation
1375 Broadway, Suite 600
New York, NY 10018
(212) 796-0571 direct
(212) 796-0570 main
(212) 591-6038 fax
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.pubpat.org
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: IPR Notification
Date: Mon, 24 Oct 2005 11:53:54 -0400
From: Dan Ravicher <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Dear IETF:
Pursuant to IETF RFC 3979 Section 6.1.3, the Public Patent Foundation
("PUBPAT") hereby notifies IETF of the existence of intellectual
property rights that may relate to technology described in IETF
documents. Specifically, U.S. Patent No. 6,101,499 ("the '499 patent")
owned by Microsoft Corporation may relate to RFC 2462 - IPv6 Stateless
Address Autoconfiguration and RFC 2464 - Transmission of IPv6 Packets
over Ethernet Networks (collectively referred to as "IPv6").
Although IETF was previously notified of the '499 patent with respect to
IPv4 related documents (see
http://www.ietf.org/ietf/IPR/MICROSOFT-499.txt and
https://datatracker.ietf.org/public/ipr_detail_show.cgi?ipr_id=554), the
'499 patent's claims, including for example claims 1 and 30, could
possibly be read as also relating to IPv6. However, other than
identifying this potential relationship, PUBPAT takes no position
regarding the validity or scope of the '499 patent.
If we can provide any further information or be of any other assistance
to IETF in its review of this matter, please do not hesitate to
contact me.
Sincerely,
Daniel B. Ravicher
Executive Director
Public Patent Foundation
1375 Broadway, Suite 600
New York, NY 10018
(212) 796-0571 direct
(212) 796-0570 main
(212) 591-6038 fax
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.pubpat.org
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