Patents and Standards

Dear Sir or Madam,

I have one simple statement, it is entriely unacceptable to include any 
idea which MAY be convered by a patent within an open standard.

Please note that my position in this is as an internet developer and a 
user of Free Software who is also responsible for the IT/IS services of 
an Irish telecommunications company.   My reasons for assuming this 
position include the simple fact that I would regard any "standard" 
which required royalty payments as a vulnerable standard which will 
delay the adoption of new technologies aswell as the fact that the W3 
could no longer be assumed to be an authoritative source of information 
on any such influenced standard as the standard would be at least 
partially controlled by a thrid party.   Finally the differing IP laws 
relating to patents worldwide would lead to wholesale confusion and 
difficulty for developers who wished to utilise "standards" within any 
program as they would be required to be Internationl Patent Law experts.

Please restate your position as follows:

"No W3 Standard from today may include any technology which is covered 
by a patent application unless permission is granted by the patent 
holder for unlimited Free use of the patent"

Niall

"never underestimate the dark side of the source"
"software is like sex, it's best when it's free"

Received on Tuesday, 2 October 2001 12:18:39 UTC