patents vs. open standards

Let's think about this for a moment.  Allow some company to hold a patent
on any portion of an international standard without being required 
to provide free licensing to anyone who wants it.  Well, the average
person would say, "Duh, that's a bad idea".  The W3C should be doing the
exact opposite then what it is currently considering.  Patents work
directly against open standards, when there is no requirement of free
licensing.  The W3C would be better off staying as far away from patented
technologies as possible.
	The W3C should include a new requirement.  If anyone has a patent
on any part of a proposed open standard, that proposal should
automatically be rejected.  There is no place for patents in open
standards.  A proposal isn't Open, if some company or person controls the
way in which you can use that standard.

Matthew M. Copeland

Received on Monday, 1 October 2001 11:55:28 UTC