Proposed Patent Royalty Policy for WWW

I am an ASTM Fellow, and have been involved actively for more than 35 years 
in writting and reviewing hundreds of Standards many of which are used 
internationally.  ASTM is one of the oldest standards organizations in the 
world.  I have some expertise in this field.

The proposal to charge fees for use of patented technology when used in 
standards is a total disaster.  It will result in fragmenting of standards 
for use of the Web, and will encourage alternate royalty-free standards to be 
created that compete with any standards that require payments or fees.

History clearly shows that industries grow and flourish when there are clear 
non-discriminatory standards that control materials, processes, test methods, 
and reporting.  Standards are vital in assuring that products made in 
different places by different organizations will work sucessfully and 
consistantly because they meet known requirements.  If use of a standard 
imposes added costs, the tendency will be to avoid use of those proprietary 
standards as much as possible, even if the proprietary standards are better 
than the free alternates.

Please drop this idea, and allow the use of proprietary technology for 
standards with no charges or fees for use of the standards themselves.  

A basic principal of standards creation should be that no fees are ever 
charged for participation in the standards setting process, and that no 
technology used in the standard require payment of any fees or royalties.  
The ASTM standards adhere to these principals.  The only fees charged are for 
the standards documents themselves, mainly to defray cost of reproduction and 
standards maintainance. 

Bob Moss
Chairman, ASTM Committee E21