[e2e] patents on routing algorithms

[Jon Crowcroft]

a letter in this month's CACM reminds us that the Church-Turing Theorem
states that algorithms and mathematics are the same - math is unpatentable
so ...

time to trash algorithm patents esp. where they are used in clear violation even
of the original (at least US) intent of patent law....edison will be turning in
his grave...

the ietf has (had) the right model..

In missive <477C7660.8020406 at isi.edu>, Joe Touch typed:

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 >>
 >>
 >>David P. Reed wrote:
 >>> A student just mentioned to me that AODV and OLSR routing algorithms ar=
 >>e
 >>> patented.  I have to say I was surprised.   Anyone know by whom, and
 >>> what the licensing requirements are?
 >>>=20
 >>> Are there also patents on any end-to-end protocols described by RFCs?
 >>
 >>See: https://datatracker.ietf.org/ipr/
 >>
 >>OSPF, in particular, has IBM IPR claims. Many are of the form "don't
 >>enforce against us, and you can use this one for free"; something of
 >>that general flexibility is typically the most restrictive accepted for
 >>standards-track protocols.
 >>
 >>Joe
 >>
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 cheers

   jon