patent-response

World Wide Web Consortium
Patent Policy Working Group
www-patentpolicy-comment@w3.org

	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.

	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,

-- 
Edward

--
Edward Renaud,
Analyst
St. Remy Media Inc.
Maison Bagg, 682 William,
Montreal, Quebec. H3C 1N9
Tel.: (514) 871-9696
Fax: (514) 871-2230
E-mail: edward.renaud@stremy.com

Received on Tuesday, 9 October 2001 15:21:05 UTC