Stay Open

Hello,
I have recently been made aware of the Patent Policy Framework (RAND
proposal).

I have been a web designer for many years. The thought of anyone.. .big or
small holding royalty patents for ANY standard adopted by the W3C a scary
thought. The foundation of the internet is based on (almost) free access to
it and the great possibilities that it holds for the average person and the
large corporation. Your proposal would potentially lock out the "user". The
millions of people that have made the internet what it is today could be
effectively locked out by the whims of a large corporation or organisation.

Though I'm sure that is not your intention, there are companies that I am
sure would go to great lengths to take any advantage given to them to
exploit a monopoly on the internet. This cannot happen. The WWW must remain
free for all.

I and the company I work for (though am not representing here) use open
source software. Patented material does not make it into open source
software because there is no one to pay the royalties. This would create a
rift in the net. Those that use commercial software, and those that use
community driver open source software such as us. The WWW is supposed to be
a unifying force, not a dividing one.

There are many website articles that I agree with and state my point of view
very nicely:
http://www.webstandards.org/opinion.html
http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-patentpolicy-comment/2001Oct/0018.ht
ml


Please sit back and consider what you are doing to the WWW. And the new era
that you could possibly brining in with this policy.

---
Paul Tichonczuk
-
Disc space -- the final frontier!

Received on Tuesday, 9 October 2001 15:12:06 UTC