Opposition to Patent Policy

Greetings,

As a user of the Internet, which was founded on Open Standards 
unencumbered by copyright and patent, I am opposed to the 
incorporation of patented technology into the W3C standards.

Patents are in place to protect intellectual property and corporate
profits.  To include Patented Technology benefits that corporation,
and hinders those who seek to improve the the Computing Society
through the use of Open Standards.  The Unisys GIF patent fiasco
is a good example of what happens when Patented Technology is 
used - the patent holder may change their mind on a moment's notice
and demand payment from all users of the technology.

Even if a Royalty Free Licence is used, Patented Technology presents 
a threat to the security of the Internet.  Open Standards can be 
freely reviewed, implemented, and improved.  Patented Technology can 
be controlled so that it may not be reviewed nor improved.  If it can 
be reviewed and improved, the improvement process will be bogged down 
as the patent holders are usually large companies that respond very 
slowly to changing environments, and they will add an additional layer 
to the change process.  If a security problem exists in a basic 
protocol or Patented Technology, we have no assurances regarding how 
fast the patent holder will either fix the problem or approve the 
changes to the Patented Technology.  In the meantime, potentially 
millions of computer systems will remain vulnerably until the patent 
holder approves the change.

Incorporating Patented Technology is a bad idea for the Internet
and should not even be considered.

Thank you for your consideration.

Respectfully Submitted,

George Toft
3455 West Twain Court
Anthem, AZ 85086
USA

Received on Sunday, 30 September 2001 17:49:48 UTC