RAND Licensing

As a software developer, I believe that the current patent system is
antiquated and inappropriate from much (if not all) technology development.

I believe it is a mistake to perpetuate this process through standards
endorsement. I will cite one fine example of standards that have been put in
place with patent encumbrances that ultimately lead to legal entanglements.

1) the JEDEC standard for SDRAM and DDR DRAM have been tied up in courts
around the world thanks to the wholly unsavory practices of RAMBUS, inc.,
who polluted the standards with their IP and then turned on other memory
providers to extract royalties for the standard created under the JEDEC.

If the W3C endorses the RAND licensing model, then "standards" will be
become encumbered and force small players in the industry into costly
licensing relationships. This will have the effect of slowing the creation
of tools and utilities necessary for implementing standards. In addition,
smaller software players will be forced to deal with corporations that will
extract the maximum benefit from the standard and enforce control upon open
standards.

It is a lose-lose situation for the majority of software providers. Please
reconsider the ratification of this proposal in the current form.

Sean Safreed
Senior Product Manager, Commotion
Pinnacle Systems * 80 Liberty Ship Way, Suite 7 * Sausalito, CA 94965
phone: 415-331-4560 x114 * fax 415-331-5230

BTW: Not having posted the link to this working draft on the home page of
W3C is very suspicious.

Received on Monday, 1 October 2001 14:08:15 UTC