Don't make the wrong move on patents

To Whom It May Concern:

The W3C should *not* be involved in supporting and developing 
standards that must be licensed and have fees paid in order to 
implement them.

Requiring payment for the use of a single W3C standard, present or 
future, would undermine the confidence that I place in the W3C, both 
as an independent developer and web user as well as in my 
professional life as a web developer for a major TV & internet media 
operation.

The W3C has never been perfect, but I have perceived it as trying to 
the right thing for the web as a whole. Not just for it's member 
companies, but for users (disabled and not), for small companies, 
independent developers, and the relationships that tie all of these 
groups together.

There are organizations whose task it is to invent defacto standards 
that they can charge money for. These organizations called 
corporations. Bringing a standard through the W3C gives it 
credibility that in no small part is derived from it's zero-royalty 
status.

The stakeholders in the web will not benefit from this move, and I 
call on you to reject this proposition.

If you choose to embrace this proposition, it's quite possible that 
the W3C will lose it's relevance in defining web standards. I know I 
would begin looking elsewhere.

Please do the right thing on this one.

Luke Melia
New York, New York

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luke@lukemelia.com                             http://www.lukemelia.com

"I am a work in progress, dressed in the fabric of a world unfolding 
/ Offering me intricate patterns of questions, rhythms that never 
come clean / And strengths you still haven't seen."--Ani DiFranco
                                                                     8^>

Received on Wednesday, 3 October 2001 09:32:48 UTC