Talking to the Fridge

Do you remember when scientists were saying that before long all domestic appliances would be interconnected and intelligent? You would be able to phone home and tell your oven to have dinner ready for your evening return; your fridge would tell you when the milk was running low.

Technology like this requires 'industry standards', where different devices can share the same technology so that they are able to talk to each other.

Nowhere is this more important than in the field of communication devices. Many of us take it for granted that we can read our emails on the home Windows pc, on the works Mac, and on our phone, and swap files between them.

However, all the major companies producing these devices and the operating systems that run on them are commercial enterprises. They want to make money out of their R&D and that means patenting new technology and protecting it aggressively. Microsoft, Google, Apple and Motorola are all involved in lawsuits with each other, and with smaller companies, alleging patent infringements.

This is where the various international standards bodies come into play. They insist that, in return for a particular technology being granted the status of 'industry standard' the company that holds the patent must licence it on "fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms". FRAND for short.

The trouble is that there is no agreed definition of what constitutes FRAND, and Google appears to be testing the limits at the moment. Ironically, you will quite likely google 'FRAND' to find out more. It's in everyone's interest that these industry giants play fair. We all want open systems - to be able to pick and choose, whether on the basis of quality, features, or price. Let's hope the various regulatory bodies are on our side.

Further reading: The Economist; Tech Crunch; Wikipedia