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[STDS-802-11] Unblocking the approval of IEEE 802.11ax as an ISO/IEC/IEEE "international" standard

--- This message came from the IEEE 802.11 Working Group Reflector ---

G’day 802.11 WG,

I stopped attending IEEE 802.11 WG meetings in January 2023 after more than 20 years of participation, including many years as the Chair of the IEEE 802 JTC1 SC. About a year before I left, the IEEE 802 JTC1 SC ran into a problem that blocked the approval of IEEE 802.11ax as an ISO/IEC/IEEE “international” standard. I was sad to discover earlier this year that the blockage is still in place, partially due to ISO not following their own rules in the ISO Patent Policy and partially because a few companies have declined to provide patent declarations (positive or negative) to ISO. This is embarrassing for ISO and I understand it is causing some issues in Europe rising from IEEE 802.11ax not having the ISO/IEC/IEEE “international” standard stamp of approval.

This whole situation is annoying, and feels like unfinished business, and so:

  • In June 2024, I wrote a blog, describing the problem as I see it. I finished by calling on ISO to resolve the issue by following their own rules in the ISO Patent Policy.
  • Nothing much happened … and so in July 2024, I wrote a second blog, calling on the owners of the patents in question to submit a declaration to ISO stating whether (or not) they will provide licences to the patent under free/RAND terms as defined by the ISO Patent Policy
  • Nothing much happened … but I did learn recently that ISO had published an explicit decision to not follow their ISO Patent Policy. I have just written a third blog explaining why the precedent set by ISO could easily be used by bad actors to halt any or all ISO standardisation activities. I also reiterated my call for the owners of the patents in question to submit a patent declaration to ISO. This is probably the only way to resolve the impasse in the short term.

I encourage everyone to read the blogs and respond to them or discuss them in the IEEE 802 JTC1 SC. More importantly, I call on the owners of the patents in question to submit patent declarations to ISO on the appropriate form. While I would prefer the declarations were positive (ie free/RAND licenses), a negative declaration (ie no license) would also represent progress. The owners of the patents in question are:

  • Ericsson
  • Interdigital
  • Panasonic
  • Huawei
  • KPN
  • Nokia

I hope you enjoy the blogs and they help start a process that ends in the approval of IEEE 802.11ax as an ISO/IEC/IEEE “international” standard.

Andrew Myles
(former IEEE 802.11 member)

PS All three blogs are published on my Linkedin page

 

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