Please keep the standards open and patent free

I believe that much of the value of having a standard is removed when it is
based on patented technology. The fact that the use of the patented
technology may be "royalty free" only covers one concern. There are many
other concerns that I have this "royalty free patent policy".

1) Other potential limitations on use or distribution of software. Non-web
use for example. Licensing of tools under the GPL as another example.

2) Differing patent laws will create confusion about what is legal and
where. Will a country without strong patent laws be at an advantage to
exploit the new standard? Will software created to use this standard be
freely distributable to all parts of the world? For all purposes?

3) A "standard" should be open to use regardless of the domain. Too many
potential legal problems exist with patented technology for it to make
sense as a standard. Where are the guarantees that my company can create
commercial products around this standard without running afoul of the
patent holder?

Please keep the WWW standards open and patent free.

-Derek Warnick
Senior Software Engineer
3M Health Information Systems

575 W. Murray Blvd.
Murray, UT. 84123
(801) 265-4691
dtwarnick@mmm.com

Received on Thursday, 2 January 2003 13:09:21 UTC