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See below concerning how NISO is dealing with this situation. Since the
US/NISO is secretariat for TC46/SC4 (for 639-2 and 3166), there is
obviously much concern about this.

Rebecca

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 2003 13:46:45 -0400
From: Pat Harris <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Licensing of ISO coding standards

Dear members,

In late August I learned that the
<http://news.com.com/2100-1032_3-5079256.html>ISO Council would be
considering a new policy that would allow ISO to  charge a licensing
fee for embedding the ISO's  coding standards - ISO 3166 Country
Codes, ISO 639 Language Codes, and ISO 4217 Currency Codes -  in
software products.

NISO is the U.S. Technical Advisory Group on ISO 3166 and ISO 639 so
is especially concerned about the implications of this change.

Today I contacted ISO and learned that the  ISO's Commercial Policy
Steering Group presented its proposal to the ISO Council last week.
The ISO Council has asked for more information and "asked the CPSG to
make a clearer case for what they want to do." The CPSG will likely
report back to the Council in early-2004.

At this time there is no change in ISO Policy or practice.
And, we now have an opportunity to influence the CPSG and persuade
them to abandon this proposal.

I plan to meet with the U.S. representative  on the CPSG, Bob
Feghali, ANSI's VP Business Development and CIO next week.

I feel strongly that all the standards developers and other
organizations impacted by this proposal should work together to
defeat it and have begun to contact other standards organizations to
enlist their interest and support.

I welcome hearing your views on this matter and will keep you
informed of our progress.
Pat




--
************************************
Pat Harris
Executive Director
National Information Standards Organization (NISO)
4733 Bethesda Avenue, Suite 300
Bethesda, MD 20814 USA
T: 301-654-2512 ** Mobile: 202-258-3296
Fax: 301-654-1721
Email: [log in to unmask]
url: http://www.niso.org