Thank You

Dear Patent Policy Working Group,

Thank you for extending the deadline for this important discussion.  In my haste to respond in the initial deadline, having only heard of this through LinuxToday.com and Slashdot.org, I may have relied more on emotional response than critical thinking.

I would like to propose a different answer to the question that you tried to answer:

In a world where patents exist and may be used to constrain conformance to standards, how should W3C best proceed in order to accomplish its mission? 

If the W3C would like to promote standards that will be widely used they should always ensure that it can be used on a Royalty Free basis.  This is the only way to ensure that it is not discriminating any user, group or developer.  I think the following comments sum up my view as well:

http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-patentpolicy-comment/2001Sep/0650.html

http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-patentpolicy-comment/2001Oct/0018.html

http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-patentpolicy-comment/2001Sep/0736.html

http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-patentpolicy-comment/2001Oct/0302.html

Sincerely,

Abe Milde