Why

I think that Todd Miller said it best:

"While I recognize the desire of the W3C not to be blindsided by
patents, and to state a reasonable policy regarding them, I strongly
feel than _any_ for-fee licensing required for a particular standard
discriminates against Open Source and Free software, the importance of
which the W3C surely recognizes.  However, fee-free licensing is not
sufficient, as a fee-free license could forbid a particular license
(e.g., Open or Free ones like the BSD or GPL), or restrict the use of
the licensed materials in a way incompatible with an Open or Free
license.  As such, I urge you in the strongest way to amend the
proposal to require encumbered standards to be licensed in a way
compatible with open-source and free software.  Thank you for your
time."

I strongly oppose the current proposal. No patents in standards, or
at a minimum ensure they do not impact the development, distribution
or use of free software in any way.

.... Ken

Received on Sunday, 7 October 2001 08:48:09 UTC