Patent encumbrance of standards unwise in international relations

Dear sirs:

In my opinion, allowing standards to become encumbered by patents would
be unwise from the
standpoint of international relations. Many parts of the third world,
such as India and South
America are making great strides toward joining the Information Age.
However, these countries
do not have a great deal of money, and would properly rather spend it on
infrastructure and
health rather than web browser standards compliance royalties.

The imposition of royalties then erects another 'us vs them' fence, and
recent events highlight
the dangers inherent. From the point of view of people in the third
world, Americans and Western
Europeans frequently appear as money grubbing, more concerned for their
profits than their
fellow man. So far the Internet has been a great world forum, imposing
few barriers other than
the necessary infrastructure. Making standards royalty-bearing sets us
on the road to further
feelings of hostility from the third world as it appears we are setting
a stumbling block to their
attempts at improvement.

Sincerely,
Dale Pontius

Received on Sunday, 30 September 2001 20:51:19 UTC