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The presence of patented components within a protocol is extremely
undesirable. The purpose of a protocol is to define an agreed-upon
expected behavior, thus providing common ground for cooperation within
an industry. The presence of patents within a protocol places
restrictions on its implementation and usage, and therefore serves to
undermine this purpose.
The Free Protocols Foundation (FPF) is an independent public forum,
dedicated to the support of patent-free protocols. We do this by means
of the following major activities:
- By providing an independent, external forum in which an Author may
make an initial declaration that a protocol is intended to be
patent-free.
- By defining a set of patent-related Working Group procedures which
ensure that the resulting protocol will remain functionally
patent-free. Any development organization is free to adopt these
procedures with regard to its own protocols.
- By providing an independent, external forum in which a Working
Group may make a public declaration that it follows these procedures.
- Whenever patent rights are asserted with respect to any protocol
which has been declared patent-free to the FPF, by publishing a
statement of the patent right assertion.
- Whenever patent rights are known to exist with respect to a
protocol which has been declared patent-free to the FPF, by assisting
in obtaining from the patent-holder a non-restrictive license to
implement the patented process as part of the protocol.
- By acting as a clearing house for information and articles relating to protocol patent-freedom.
- By supporting the creation and development of patent-free alternative protocols to existing patented protocols.
- By supporting fights against invalid software patents in the courts.
The FPF provides its free publication service to any company,
organization, or individual wishing to make a patent-free declaration.
The FPF also provides a public notification service of these
declarations. All services of the FPF are free of charge.
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How to Participate
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Featured Topics
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- Libre Services
. Provides complete information about Libre Services.
- Libre Concept Paper. Concept of Libre Services fully explained.
- ByName.
A set of services for the individual user.
- ByNumber. A similar set of services to
ByName, but based on a number assigned to the user instead of the user's name.
This allows access to the services using numeric devices such as telephone
keypads.
- ByAlias. A similar set of services to
ByName, but allowing the use of an alias instead of the user's real name.
- ByMemory. A set of services for
preserving the memory of deceased persons. These include features for creating
memorials and biographies, and for creating and maintaining shared
genealogies.
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Verbatim Copying Permitted