IEEE1588 patent encumbered -- project needs different leader

[Patrick Ohly]

On Mi, 2010-01-20 at 19:12 +0000, John W. Linville wrote:
> Well, I had hoped to make more of this project.  But as I'm sure
> some of you remember the (attempted) transition was a little rocky,
> causing me to back-off.  And although I was hoping to devote more
> attention to this project in the immediate future, I have recently
> come to better appreciate that the IEEE 1588 spec is encumbered by a
> number of patents.  Perhaps the patent holders aren't interested in
> enforcing them against ptpd users, but I'm just not interested enough
> to track-down all the paperwork to prove that (if it is even true).

Intel could help with that kind of paperwork. We have a representative
at the 1588 standards committee who knows the relevant patent owners. Of
course, as always with patents, there's not going to be any kind of
certainty that there are no unknown patents lurking which might be
claimed later on.

I suppose it is too late for that now, is it?

-- 
Best Regards, Patrick Ohly

The content of this message is my personal opinion only and although
I am an employee of Intel, the statements I make here in no way
represent Intel's position on the issue, nor am I authorized to speak
on behalf of Intel on this matter.