patent policy

I am a software consultant with several years of experience with W3C 
standards.

1. I think software patents are a *bad* idea.

2. The W3C should not be in the business of endorsing particular 
software patents. They only help legitimize the patents.

3. There is plenty of prior art to defend against most patent claims.

4. Even if W3C recommendations are "RAND", free and open source software 
will not be able to implement patent-infringing W3C standards.

5. You make the arguement that other standards bodies endorses 
patent-infringing standards, but if they jumped off a bridge we you as well?

6. Software is an industry unlike any other in that the construction of 
software has no physical manifestation. Therefore the policies of other 
industies may not apply.

Regards,
Bryan

P.S. The views expressed above are not necessarily those of my employer, 
Random Walk Computing, Inc.

Received on Tuesday, 2 October 2001 09:46:19 UTC