Patent flap could slow multilingual domain name plan

Network World - MINNEAPOLIS -- Intellectual property claims have blindsided the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and could derail the group's effort to develop a standard approach for supporting multilingual domain names on the Internet.

Creating communications protocols for internationalized domain names is one of the most significant projects under way within the IETF, the Internet's premier standards setting body. The IETF is under pressure from companies and Internet users outside the U.S. who want to have access to domain names in their native languages.

But the wait for a multilingual domain name standard may be longer than expected. The IETF's Internationalized Domain Name (IDN) working group recently discovered that Ann Arbor, Mich.-based technology vendor Walid Inc. has been issued a U.S. patent that appears to cover many aspects of the technical scheme being developed as part of the standards process.

The approach covered by Walid's patent involves converting foreign language characters into standard Unicode and then encoding them in the U.S. version of ASCII for transmission over the Internet. It also creates a presentation layer to display domain names to end users in their native languages, which would have the advantage of not requiring any changes to the Domain Name System (DNS) protocol or to existing DNS servers.

Walid, which was issued the patent Jan. 30, has filed paperwork with the IETF saying that it plans to seek licensing fees "based on reciprocity" if that approach is included in the working group's final standard. At a meeting here last week, IETF officials asked Walid to reconsider and instead license the patent for free to all interested parties.

If not, they added, the IETF likely will scrap the approach covered by Walid's patent and start over. Working group Chairman Marc Blanchet said he expects to hear back from Walid within a month. "There are some signs that Walid may change its stance," he said. "But there is no chance that the IETF will move ahead and test this patent claim."

Doug Hawkins, director of business development at Walid, today confirmed the company plans to issue a statement within the next two to four weeks "that will clarify our position on this." Walid executives "are trying to look at the situation and come up with something that works for everyone," Hawkins said. He declined further comment on the matter.

Other vendors that potentially could test Walid's patent claim include I-DNS.net International Inc. in Palo Alto, Calif., and VeriSign Inc. in Mountain View, Calif. However, VeriSign and Walid are working together on a multilingual domain