Keep the standards patent-free

I am disturbed by this attempt to close off the web to small players, and
hand it to the companies that can afford the best patent lawyers.  The web
is, and should be, a medium where everyone can enter with a level playing
field.  Plus, the entire point of a standard is that everyone, from the
biggest company to the home hobbiest, can interoperate with anyone else on
the standard.  A vague "reasonable and non-discriminatory" clause will do
nothing to stop the groups who wish to turn the web into their own private
playground, and fatten their coffers at the expense of the developers and
users of the world.

I strongly request that the W3C reject the concept of "patented standards"
- if someone wants to submit a standard, then that standard should be
available for anyone to build toward.  If they want to lock up their
precious "IP", then that information should not be part of a standard.

--Wade Minter

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Received on Sunday, 30 September 2001 14:08:43 UTC