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Step 12 in constructing complex content reads "If the newly constructed node is an element node, and if namespaces are inherited, then each namespace node of the newly constructed element (including any produced as a result of the namespace fixup process) is copied to each descendant element of the newly constructed element, unless that descendant element or an intermediate element already has a namespace node with the same name (or absence of a name)" From the way this step is written, a namespace node is copied even when a descendant element has xmlns="". I think it should say: "If the newly constructed node is an element node, and if namespaces are inherited, then each namespace node of the newly constructed element (including any produced as a result of the namespace fixup process) is copied to each descendant element of the newly constructed element, unless that descendant element or an intermediate element already has a namespace node with the same name (or absence of a name), or that descendant element or an intermediate element is in no namespace and the namespace node has no name."
I think you're probably right.
The proposal in the original bug entry was accepted at today's telcon.
Spec now updated