Patent Policy for WWW Standards

World Wide Web Consortium
Patent Policy Working Group
www-patentpolicy-comment@w3.org 

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. 

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.

Please do not allow private companies to deny private
individuals equal access to the standard technologies
that make the internet what it is. The standard
language for communication in my community is english.
Imagine the barriers there would be if I had to pay
royalties to speak to my neighbor.

Thanks to the W3C, I am fluent in HTML, CSS, and
XHTML. I appreciate all you have done for the
internet. Please do not let ANYONE sway your the
steady course you have provided for us all. 

Sincerely,


=====
Troy W.
http://3ev.alturl.com
ICQ# 106512957

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Received on Tuesday, 16 October 2001 21:08:55 UTC