- From: Damien Miller <djm@mindrot.org>
- Date: Mon, 1 Oct 2001 10:07:42 +1000 (EST)
- To: <www-patentpolicy-comment@w3.org>
Dear PPWG, Please reconsider any proposal to apply the W3C imprimatur to standards which contain non-royalty free patents. The Internet and the WWW are such incredible successes precisely because the infrastructure layers are largely patent-free. Time and again the market has chosen non-encumbered standards and protocols over ones with IP claims. It seems that the great burst of innovation and entrepreneurial activity the Internet and the WWW has spawned over the last decade would have been impossible if individuals and small organisations were denied their opportunity to participate due to license fees. These license fees may be "reasonable" to companies which can afford to patent their innovations, but are absolutely crushing to the new entrants who drive innovation hardest. The PPWG should be reviewing patent policy, with an eye to further ensuring that no encumbered technology makes it into W3C standards or recommendations. The necessity of this is demonstrated by the recent surge in the use of undisclosed "submarine" patents in standards bodies. I urge the PPWG to consider the effect of its decisions on the many small innovaters. Please ensure that any patented technology approved by the W3C is licensed on a royalty-free basis. Regards, Damien Miller -- | Damien Miller <djm@mindrot.org> \ ``E-mail attachments are the poor man's | http://www.mindrot.org / distributed filesystem'' - Dan Geer
Received on Sunday, 30 September 2001 19:59:49 UTC