comment on current draft of W3C patent policy

Dear W3C,

  I am writing you to voice my concerns over the current draft of the W3C 
Royalty-Free Patent Policy. Specifically, I have reservations about Section 3 
Item 3 which provides the patent holder with the ability to restrict use of the 
Recommendations in their patent outside limited implementations.

  As a user of both free and proprietary software which relies on both patented 
and non-patented standards I feel that it is necessary to avoid any 
restrictions to the use of Recommendations within any patent that applies to a 
W3C standard. Restrictions such as that mentioned in Section 3 Item 3 will only 
serve to impede cooperation, innovation, and acceptance of proposed standards. 
A standard should provide a benefit to the community as a whole whereas a 
patented recommendation that is restricted in any way benefits the patent 
holder and should not be considered as a standard.

  Any patented Recommendation submitted to the W3C should be available without 
any restriction or it should be released as a non-standard feature by the 
patent holder.

  In my opinion Item 3 of Section 3 should be struck from the W3C Royalty-Free 
Patent Policy as it is written now.

Thank you for your time,
Bryan Nielsen