The real question is why Patent something? The reality is even if you patent any idea/feature, other vendors will come out with a similar (although not patent infringing) version of the same idea/feature. While you might get a short term jump on other vendors, if the idea is really good, everyone else will catch up quickly. Further, customers REALLY like inter-op, I know for one I don't use protocols from vendors that aren't "standard" On Jan 21, 2010, at 10:35 AM, Abhishek Verma wrote:
Hi,
Network Ops folks use the IETF standards for their operations. I see lot of nifty things coming out from the IETF stable and i was wondering why those dont get patented? Why bother releasing some really good idea to IETF (i.e. open standards bodies) when the vendor could have patented it. The network operators can still use it as long as they are using that vendor's equipment. I understand that interop can be an issue, since it will be a patented technology, but it will always work between the boxes from the same vendor. If so, then whats the issue?
Is interop the only issue because of which most ideas get released into IETF? I guess interop is *an* issue since nobody wants a single vendor network.
Thanks, Abhishek