- From: Bill Gunn <billgunn@hwcn.org>
- Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2001 22:30:44 -0400
- To: www-patentpolicy-comment@w3.org
I have been an internet user since 1987 and my work as a research chemist involves the regular use of the internet and the web as a vital source for information. I am totally opposed to the RAND licensing proposal for the non-royalty-free use of corporate patents in W3C standards. I believe that this is contrary both to the spirit that created the World Wide Web and the very concept of standards - which to be effective must be open and free of any proprietary constraints. I support the following propoasl by Prof Attila Mate of CUNY: "W3C should firmly insist on a policy of requiring that the standards it endorses incorporate no patents or other intellectual property unless the holder of those patents or intellectual property agrees to license it free of charge and without restrictions to any and all for the purpose of creating and reading Web pages, and for the purpose of creating software connected with the creating, maintaining, reading, and displaying of Web pages, whether these Web pages are placed on the World Wide Web or they are placed on an internal network." Unless the RAND licensing proposal of the working draft is dropped totally, the fragmentation of the web into free and unfree, open and proprietary zones would result. The credibility of the W3C would be destroyed. This situation would both severely restrict the development of technology and be strongly antithetical to the interests of the user community. Bill Gunn Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Received on Sunday, 30 September 2001 22:28:42 UTC