Royalty Free Patent Policy

If my understanding is correct, then the free grant to use a patent 
within a W3C recommendation might be encumbered if that same patent is 
used for some non-W3C recommendation.

I do not claim to understand all the vagaries of the issue, but it seems 
to me that this clause could be abused to put a stop to some very 
important developments of free software.  I can imagine a situation 
where a free software developer wants to implement a subset of a 
recommendation (say on a small device) and in doing so, could be sued 
because the patent grant is valid only when the full recommendation was 
implemented.  Or perhaps a developer want to implement a non-standard 
version of XSLT based on his/her native language, s/he might be 
precluded from doing so without the payment of royalties.

I understand the desires of the contributors to be able to monetize a 
patent on something when used in an entirely different context than a 
W3C recommendation, but allowing this clause provides a slippery slope 
which the patent holders can abuse when a developer strays even slightly 
from the W3C recommendation.

I respectfully request that the W3C remove this patent grant restriction.

Received on Thursday, 2 January 2003 14:21:56 UTC