RAND Policy

   
     Dear W3C Patent Policy Working Group:

     I'm extremely concerned about the recent Patent Policy Framework draft, which
     could allow W3C members to charge royalty fees for technologies
     included in web standards.

     In particular, I object to the inclusion of a "reasonable and
     non-discriminatory" (RAND) licensing option in the proposed policy.
     I believe that the exclusive use of a "royalty-free" (RF) licensing
     model is in the best interests of the Internet community, and that
     RAND licensing would always necessarily exclude some would-be
     implementors, especially among open source and free software
     developers.

     I applaud the W3C for its tradition of providing open-source
     reference implementations and its work to promote a wide variety of
     interoperable implementations of its open standards. The W3C can
     best continue its work of "leading the Web to its full potential"
     by continuing this tradition, and saying no to RAND licensing.

     Sincerely,

 Alessandro Sattanino
Via Sommacampagna 47
00185 Rome - Italy