Patent Policy

I join every colleague and friend I have spoken with
about your proposed new patent policy in saying that
it is a direct violation of the principles that have
made the web successful, and of the W3C's trust as a
creator of standards.

We believe that the Web's success depends on fully
open standards that can be implemented without
restrictions by open source developers as well as
commercial developers, large and small. 

We see the proposed patent policy framework as
changing the rules of the game at the midway point.
This especially affects independent developers who
were the first to support the Web by implementing new
technology based on Web standards. One need only look
to the wide range of free XML tools to appreciate the
tremendous contribution of these developers. 

The policy makes no mention of the interests of those
independent developers who have contributed heavily to
the success of the Web by investing in the development
of non-proprietary technology. The proposed policy
states that the Web community has "a longstanding
preference for Recommendations that can be implemented
on a royalty-free (RF) basis." It is much more than a
preference; it is an absolute requirement.

Thank you for your time.  I hope you will take the
voices and opinions of the community of independent
developers and of technology aware users into
consideration.

Siri Atma Oaklander De Licori

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Received on Wednesday, 28 November 2001 14:26:30 UTC