[openstandaarden] [Fwd: [Bxl] Portuguese Post Office swpat for email certification process]

[Jan Claeys]

At 2003-07-30 03:07, you wrote:
>At 2003-07-30 02:44, you wrote:
>> I think the Belgian Certipost will not be happy with this. If they want 
>> to be success-full with that services that seems to work only with IE 
>> (under investigation) they don't want to pay to Portuguese patent. ;-)
>>
>> I was thinking that Portugal had almost no software patent granted... 
>> now we discover this one (it might be a business method but how to 
>> distinguish them from software patent?).
>
>You have a link to (information about) that Portuguese patent?

Ik heb ondertussen de tekst v/e krantenartikel inclusief Engelse 
vertaling (onderaan deze mail) gekregen van "Joaquim Carvalho":
<http://ultimahora.publico.pt/shownews.asp?id=1158609&idCanal=81>

"João Miguel Neves" merkte ook nog op dat er momenteel enkel een patent-
aanvraag is, en dus nog geen verkregen patent.

-----------------------------------------------------
"
A certification marking for email messages' sending date will be
available to lawyers.

The Portuguese Lawyer Association ("Ordem dos Advogados"), the
Portuguese Post Office ("CTT") and the digital certification company
"Multicert" have today signed an agreement for the creation of the
Electronic Day Mark ("Marca de Dia Electrónica - MDDE"), a stamp that
warrants the sending and the integrity of electronic mail messages.

According to the Portuguese Lawyer Association the Electronic Day Mark
service is unique in the world and has been patented by the Portuguese
Post Office ("CTT") and "Multicert" company. It places an "electronic
stamp" on an electronic document, such as an email message, and assures
the veracity of the sending time and date of the document as well as the
integrity of its content.

This marking will be available starting from the 15th September and will
contain several information regarding message transactions, allowing
both the sender and the receiver to verify the sending date of
electronic mail, its subject and attached documents to be delivered to
courts and other receivers.

The "MDDE" is like the Post Office stamp on registered letters as it
provides a time certification mechanism for a lawyer sending a legal
document. This mechanism can not be denied by any of the parts involved,
says the Portuguese Lawyers Association ("Ordem dos Advogados").

Without this mechanism lawyers have no proof that they have sent their
messages because as the message goes through the Internet it can get
lost or be retained in a server for a certain period of time, making it
impossible to assure that the deadline requirements are fulfilled.

Carlos Horta e Costa, president manager of the Portuguese Post Office
("CTT") says "this service consists of a transposition of Post Office
traditional services to the electronic environment, a novelty that puts
the Portugues Post Office as well as Portugal on the leading edge of
technological achievements in the postal area, as this service is unique
in the world".

Francisco Velez Roxo, president manager of "Multicert", the digital
certification entity says "this mechanism is a technological revolution
in the legal area as it is extremely important for the sender of a
message to have a time proof of the sending, such as the one that exists
with physical (paper) messages".

José Miguel Júdice, "Bastonário" of the Portuguese Lawyers Association
("Ordem dos Advogados") acknowledges the value of this system that he
says "will allow people to obtain a proof of the time an electronic
message was sent for a cost of 0.25 Euros a piece (no matter how many
documents are attached) what represents a significant savings compared
to the 1.25 Euros cost of sending a low weight traditional mail
registered letter".
"
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-- 
Jan Claeys

"Be strict when sending and tolerant when receiving."
RFC 1958 - Architectural Principles of the Internet - section 3.9