9P as a network filesystem protocol

[Tim Panton westhawk!thp@relay.NL.net]

I was wondering about using 9P as a protocol for a project that
is un-related to Plan9 itself. It just seems sensible to use
an existing network filesystem protocol rather than trying
to make a new one. I want to export Mailboxes (and other things)
to remote Java applets.

Would anyone care to express an opinion on the status of the
9P protocol - is it copyright for example ?

Would I have a problem if I:
	1) implemented a 9P client in (say) Java,
		based on the public documenation in the book and
		on the 9P manual page.
	2) used u9fs to test it.
	3) implemented a simple 9P server in Java
	4) Used 1) and 3) in a commercial project.

I guess what I'm asking is: is 9P an 'open' specification ?

Thanks for your attention.

- By the way, if anyone has any hints about what to avoid
when implementing 9P I'd love to hear them.

Thanks.

Tim.