Comments on the W3C Patent Policy Framework Working Draft

To whom it may concern:

I have worked in standards development for medical Imaging for many years.
The DICOM Standard (developed originally through participation in NEMA by
vendors and American College of Radiology representing the user community in
the US) is a voluntary standard that has been adopted in the US, Europe,
Japan and other places in the world; it is the defacto-standard used for
medical imaging.  NEMA rules prohibit selection of any proprietary
technology for use in NEMA standards; this typically includes patented
technology.  I suppose that that technology provided under a Royalty-Free
License Mode patent could be considered by DICOM WGs.  DICOM is a good
standard, vendors that adopt it have ample opportunities to add value.  It
is even more important that W3C support similar principles.

Software patents are controversial.  Unfortunately they exists so W3C should
address their existence - in general, software patents should be deprecated.

W3C should never incorporate proprietary technology in it's standards.

In order for W3C standards development to be able to utilize or support
patented technology, the patent holder must agree to provide it in a
Royalty-Free License Mode.  Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory (RAND)
Licensing Modes are unacceptable for use in open standards and should be
unacceptable to W3C.

In order to participate in W3C activities, all WG members must disclose
previous patents and technology that they own or know about that might
possibly be infringed by W3C patents and under no circumstances should a WG
member attempt to patent technology used in standards under development by
any W3C WG.  If a WG member would like their patented technology to be
considered for inclusion in W3C standards, they must first agree to provide
it with Royalty-Free Licensing Mode.

As far as I am concerned RAND Licensing Mode would provide a vehicle for
large organizations to subvert control of W3C standards.  Any argument that
without RAND there is no incentive to innovate has been shown over the years
to be untrue.  Open standards, and patents provided royalty-free are
enablers that promote many opportunities.  Organizations can always add
value through applications that utilize open standards.

Regards,

--
Jay Gaeta <jgaeta@ultravisual.com>  Tel: (608) 256-7775 x227
Director of Technical Marketing
UltraVisual Medical Systems
Madison, WI  53703

Received on Tuesday, 2 October 2001 13:10:47 UTC