Commentary on Patent Policy

Sirs:

As a professional software developer making a living from being able to
develop platform-agnostic applications for the web, I am extremely alarmed
to see the W3C's proposed stance on patents & standards. With the proposed
changes in place the web will become more and more a showcase for large
corporations and will extinguish the independence and innovation that have
made the internet freely accessibly to anyone with a web browser (of any
flavour) and a dial-up account. It also has the possibility to place a
restrictive financial burden on anyone who wishes to use or create content
for the World Wide Web.

Indeed, with the proposals in place the web risks becoming a tool of a few
corporations (I think I don't need to list them specifically) and innovation
will largely be shut down. After a while, the W3C itself will cease to be
relevant, and I can hardly believe that is what is intended.

I urge you, therefore, to reject these proposals and show your organisation
to be one of integrity to the ideals of Tim Berners-Lee et al; be proud that
you are not just another tool of big business.

Regards,
Geoffrey M. Depew

Received on Sunday, 30 September 2001 21:18:42 UTC