patent policy

Dear W3C Patent Policy Working Group,

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. 

In addition, RAND licensing could inhibit the widespread acceptance of new
standards advanced by the W3C and would force others to define competing,
open standards, thereby taking on the role formerly played by the W3C.

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,

Joel Schneider
8941 Kell Avenue South
Bloomington, MN 55437 USA
jts@tc.umn.edu

Received on Wednesday, 10 October 2001 17:38:41 UTC