- From: Dave Macmurchie <dmacmurc@home.com>
- Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2001 10:55:36 -0700
- To: <www-patentpolicy-comment@w3.org>
- Message-ID: <000201c149d9$1c0f4c20$94b14218@redmond.corp.microsoft.com>
Hello- Please to not implement any policy that requires Internet users to agree to and pay royalty or other license fees in order to comply with your standards; to do so would be a complete repudiation of the essence of the Internet itself. I have no objection to tool-builders patenting and collecting licence fees for the use of their tools, such as editors, compilers, browsers and the like, but it is highly objectinable to be required to pay to develop new or independent tools, or products that might come from such tools, simply because the product complies with a standard you impose. This would be akin to patenting the alphabet or the right angle, and then compelling anyone who wrote message a in the sand or laid out a rectangular garden plot with straight-edge and dividers to pay for the privilege. If I choose to buy and use a typewriter or a carpenter's square, by all means I should pay for it, but if I choose to work without those conveniences, I should be free to do so. Yours very truly Dave Macmurchie Shawnigan Lake, BC Canada
Received on Sunday, 30 September 2001 13:55:38 UTC