Patent Policy

                                                                            
      Dear W3C Patent Policy Working Group,                                 
                                                                            
                                                                            
      I'm 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.                                                         
                                                                            
                                                                            
      Why would we want to promote an open communications medium that would 
      require royalties to be paid to a patent holder. The idea behind the  
      patent process is to protect the creator's intellectual property so   
      as to provide an impetus for innovation. The forum of the web already 
      has enough impetus to provide for this innovation without allowing    
      web protocols, etc. to be patented. This would have the effect of     
      removing any open source implementations and implementations by small 
      individual developers that could not afford to license the patent     
      (shareware or freeware 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,                                                            
                                                                            
                                                                            
      Gregory D. Dickson                                                    
                                                                            
                                                                            
      Manager                                                               
                                                                            
                                                                            
      Accenture                                                             
                                                                            






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Received on Monday, 8 October 2001 22:20:29 UTC