A clear NO to RAND licensing

My top reasons to say NO to RAND licensing
* It could get impossible to legally use free programs implementing W3C
standards.
* Patent holders may accept RAND licensing in order to maximize their
profit.
* RAND licensing could be used to further monopolice the software market.
* W3C might loose their integrity.
* W3C might loose their role as an independent vendor of open standards.

There are no doubt that software patents as we se them to day is a big
problem to many small and innovative companies and to the opensource
movement. Don't make it worse by making it impossible to implement "Open"
standards without paying a fee.

Best regards

- Hans Kristian Nordengen

Prosjektingenioer IT avdelingen/Project engineer IT Department
Runit Raufoss Industripartner AS
E-mail: Hans-Kristian.Nordengen@raufoss.com
Tlf/Fax: +47 61 15 18 64/+47 61 15 27 00

Received on Monday, 1 October 2001 12:09:13 UTC