- From: George Toft <george@georgetoft.com>
- Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2001 14:45:06 -0700
- To: www-patentpolicy-comment@w3.org
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