patent policy comments

Dear W3C patent policy committee members,
 
I would like to express my view that royalty-free standards should be
the only ones officially accepted by the W3C organization. 
 
While RAND schemes might allow the inclusion of more advanced and
developed standards that are brought forward by commercial entities,
there is a high likelihood that the quick development of technology on
the Net might be hurt by the necessary inadvertent exclusion of
open-source and other non-commercial implementors from amongst the
licensees of a patented standard.
 
I am not opposed to patented systems per se -- in fact, I believe that
the patent system plays an important role in encouraging individual and
commercial inventors to perform. However, I also believe that when
patented, the standards effectively begin to be under the control of the
patent assignee due to the possibility of a financial obligation being
tied to the patent's license. Given the possible financial control, no
amount of regulation can realistically make things "fair", and making
the patented standard part of the Internet or Web infrastructure will
lead to the assignee holding effective control the whole infrastructure.
 
In summary, I feel that only non-patented standards, or standards
patented with a lifetime royalty-free commitment should be allowed to
become parts of the Web infrastructure.
 
Thanks,
 
-ilya haykinson
 fellow netizen