Dave Kearns headlined his recent newsletter, “Sun says it will not seek licenses for use of SAML patents”

“That means that whether or not Sun owns patents on methods used by SAML, it will refrain from asking anyone to license that intellectual property. Not that Sun will grant a royalty-free license, but that it simply will not require one … So what does it mean? It means that any lingering doubt that a vendor or customer could be liable for royalties somewhere down the road are substantially eliminated. Companies can implement SAML 2.0-based applications and services with less worry that future liability could kill a project or seriously drain a company’s finances.”

Eve Maler made the first public announcement of this matter at the Catalyst Conference. There was little comment from members of the panel on which she sat. I don’t think many people realized the positive ramifications of the statement.

I’m no lawyer, so I cannot comment on why this is necessary from a legal standpoint, but the announcement underlines the commitment Sun Microsystems had made to open standards and the growth of the Identity Management marketplace.

By the way, I took the photo of Dave when we met at the Catalyst Conference. One of his comments: “It’s nice to meet another blogger with grandchildren!”

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Dave Kearns