[jakarta.ee-spec.committee] Code-First IP flow?

[Bill Shannon <bill.shannon@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Before the specification is created (approved?), can we have more than one implementation of the API?  If the first implementation has patent IP, an independent implementation won't have rights to that patent IP without a specification to license the IP, right?

So if Apache CXF updates the Eclipse JAX-RS API project before proposing a JAX-RS specification update, the Eclipse Jersey project might not be able to implement that updated API without infringing the Apache CXF IP.

It seems like we should encourage there to be multiple implementations of a new or updated spec, to ensure that the new APIs work as expected.  Doesn't that mean we need a spec proposal corresponding to those updates before they're made, through which the IP will flow to the implementations?