W3C Working Draft 16 August 2001

"However, as the Web comes into contact with the telecommunications,
broadcast media and consumer electronics industries, the tradition of
patenting technology from those industries will likely be carried over
to the Web."

A 10c royalty on a mobile phone or CD player may not have a
significant effect in these markets.  But much Web software, even from
large corporations, is currently available for free download.  A 10c
royalty may have a *massive* effect on the market.

The RAND licence is only "reasonable" and "non-discriminatory" among
various licencees (in theory -- but there may be more than one way to
get a licence), it says nothing about the imbalance between the patent
holder and everybody else.

Received on Sunday, 30 September 2001 07:49:12 UTC