Title: Re: ContentGuard IPR Declaration for OASIS re. XACML Hi Bruce, Once again, thank you for responding. I have copied the XACML TC because this topic is of great interest to all the members. Yes, the patent numbers can be found on the ContentGuard Web site. Yes, there was speculation shortly after the formation of the TC regarding whether these might be relevant to its work. But idle speculation cannot help an implementer make a decision. Most implementers are not trained patent lawyers can cannot easily make such a determination. This is precisely why we repeatedly asked ContentGuard for its opinion. Waiting until the specification was frozen, formally approved, and ready to submit to OASIS before giving such an opinion appears to be behaviour specifically calculated to undermine the efforts of this TC and the progress of this specification. The features and functionality of XACML have been frozen for a long time; only the specific syntax to achieve that functionality has been evolving. ContentGuard could have made its statement many months ago (in accordance with the encouraged behaviour specified in the OASIS IPR policy). As for your statement that my previous e-mail would appear to engage OASIS in evaluating the applicability of our patent claims , this is completely false. The e-mail was crystal clear (in fact, could not possibly have been more clear) that we were asking ContentGuard for this evaluation. The XACML specification says exactly what areas it covers; we would like to know which of those areas (if any) ContentGuard feels may infringe its IP. My understanding of your text below is that what is important and relevant is not the XACML specification itself, but rather whether an implementation incorporating that specification infringes. Thank you for this clarification. Carlisle.