Subject: "NO" TO RAND LICENSING

Please do not implement the RAND licensing.  I feel that the following
letter by Michael Leary summarizes my views of this:

  Dear W3C Patent Policy Working Group:

  PLEASE SAY "NO" TO RAND LICENSING.

  I'm concerned about the recent Patent Policy Framework draft, which
could
  allow W3C members to charge royalty fees for technologies included in
web
  standards.

  In particular, I object to the inclusion of a "reasonable and
  non-discriminatory" (RAND) licensing option in the proposed policy.  I
  believe that the exclusive use of a "royalty-free" (RF) licensing
model is
  in the best interests of the Internet community, and that RAND
licensing
  would always necessarily exclude some would-be implementors,
especially
  among open source and free software developers.

  I applaud the W3C for its tradition of providing open-source reference
  implementations and its work to promote a wide variety of
interoperable
  implementations of its open standards. The W3C can best continue its
work
  of "leading the Web to its full potential" by continuing this
tradition,
  and saying no to RAND licensing.

  Sincerely,
  Michael Leary


Thanks for your time, Bruce Lunde

Received on Wednesday, 10 October 2001 15:17:19 UTC