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IEEE-SA Standards Board Patent
Committee (PatCom)
APPROVED Minutes
24 September 2008
4:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.
Seoul, South Korea
MEMBERS PRESENT
Rich Hulett
Karen Kenney, Non-voting
John Kulick
David Law
Steve Mills
Fran O'Brien
Don Wright, Chair
MEMBERS ABSENT
None
IEEE OUTSIDE LEGAL COUNSEL
Claire Topp - Dorsey & Whitney
GUESTS
Steve Carlson
Clint Chaplin
Wael Diab
Mark Epstein
Bob Grow
Jim Hughes
Hung Ling
Glenn Parsons
Malcolm Thaden
Geoff Thompson
Howard Wolfman
STAFF
Kim Breitfelder
Rona Gertz
Judy Gorman
Mary Ellen Hanntz
Soo Kim
Mary Lynne Nielsen
Moira Patterson
Dave Ringle, Administrator
Susan Tatiner
Jerry Walker
1 CALL TO ORDER
Chair Wright called the meeting to order at 4:03 p.m. There was a round of introductions by all present.
2 APPROVAL OF AGENDA
The following items were added to the agenda:
6.3 Nortel 802.1AX LoA Question - Thompson
There was a motion to approve the agenda. The motion was unanimously approved.
3 APPROVAL OF 10 JUNE 2008 PatCom MEETING MINUTES
There was a motion to approve the previous meeting minutes. The motion was unanimously
approved.
4 ADMINISTRATIVE STATISTICS
a) Number of LoAs Received and Posted
b) Number of Requests for LoAs
Dave Ringle reported that there were 16 LoAs (and 8 non-awareness statements) received that were accepted and posted.
Dave reported that 4 requests (totaling 22 LoAs) were received and fulfilled since the June 2008 PatCom meeting.
5 OLD BUSINESS
5.1 Proposed New FAQ RE: Slides to Be Shown at Study Group Meetings - Law
There was a motion to approve FAQ 4a (below). The motion was unanimously approved.
"4a. Should a Call for Patents be issued at a Study Group or other pre-PAR meeting?
No. However, it is recommended that the 'Patent Slides for pre-PAR Meetings' be used in these meetings."
6 NEW BUSINESS
6.1 Legal Update - Topp
Claire Topp gave a brief update on the Rambus case.
6.2 Ballot Comments Seeking Specific LoA Submission - Wright
Chair Wright stated that he/PatCom had been asked for guidance in regards to how best to respond to balloter comments that state that their approval of a draft is contingent on the receipt of a particular patent letter of assurance.
Chair Wright shared the guidance that he had previously given to the Working Group Chair. PatCom felt that Chair Wright should state to the Working Group Chair that PatCom does not 'assure clear rights to use', as was mentioned in balloter comments.
An ad hoc group [John Kulick (Chair), David Law, Geoff Thompson, Claire Topp, and Dave Ringle] will work on a new FAQ to address this topic.
6.3 Nortel 802.1AX LoA Question - Thompson
Geoff Thompson reiterated a Nortel request for PatCom to accept a free-form patent letter of assurance submittal for P802.1AX.
Dave Ringle, PatCom Administrator, stated his belief that P802.1AX was a project to create a new Standard and, as such, was subject to the provisions of IEEE-SA Standards Board Operations Manual 6.3.5.
Despite the fact that P802.1AX is essentially a cut-and-paste of material [link aggregation] that was previously incorporated in the 802.3 Standard, PatCom agreed that since P802.1AX was indeed a project to create a new Standard, any LoAs submitted against it need to be submitted on the current IEEE-SA LoA Form (in accordance with the current P&P). It was the consensus of PatCom that based on the current bylaws, it could not accept an LoA that was not submitted on the SASB approved form.
7 NEXT MEETING
The next PatCom meeting will be Monday, 8 December 2008, in Delray Beach, Florida,
USA.
8 ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 5:30 p.m.
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