- From: David Magda <dmagda@magda.ca>
- Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2001 13:56:57 -0400
- To: www-patentpolicy-comment@w3.org
From "W3C in 7 points"[1]: > 1. Universal Access Universal access means that anyone can create a program to use the W3C's standards. Rich or poor, corporation or single developer, everyone is on equal footing and equal opportunity. It will most likely be large corporations who have the patents and the lawyers to defend patent rights. > 3. Trust Do we trust the good will of patent holders? Unisys and GIF. The MP3 format as well. > 5. Evolvability How can someone experiment with new ideas from old ways of doing if they would have to pay to experiment. Yahoo! started in a garage; would it have been started if they had to pay for the write to use HTML? Would the Internet be what it was today if people had to pay to use the TCP/IP protocol, or would we be in a world of CompuServes, AOLs, Bitnets, etc. Separate systems with no real way to communicate between them. Would you not be betraying those that helped create the Internet and made your organization possible? Would you be here if Tim Berners-Lee tried to start a commercial venture with his new protocol instead of simply sharing it with the world? > 6. Decentralization Do we need more money flowing into the hands of megacorporations? Even if a small company's proposal is accepted and they can the royalties how soon before they are bought out? How many companies have Cisco, Nortel, Microsoft, AOL Time-Warner, Disney, Oracle, IBM, HP-Compaq swallowed up? If the patents are filed in the U.S. do companies in the the U.K have to pay? If a software developer in Australia uses a standard and releases a program under the BSD or GNU license does he have to pay if an American downloads it? Which countries patent laws should be followed? If you go through with this proposal I believe you are going against the very nature of your organization. [1] http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Points/ -- David Magda <dmagda at ee.ryerson.ca> Vimes pulled out his watch and stared at it. It was turning out to be one of those days...the sort that you got every day. -- Terry Pratchett, _The_Fifth_Elephant_
Received on Sunday, 30 September 2001 13:57:00 UTC