- From: Daniel Weitzner <djweitzner@w3.org>
- Date: Fri, 14 Mar 2003 14:17:51 -0500
- To: "Www-Patentpolicy-Comment@W3. Org" <www-patentpolicy-comment@w3.org>
A number of commenters have raised questions about whether there is a conflict between the GPL and the royalty-free licensing requirements set in the W3C RF Patent Policy. In particular, commenters expressed concern that the W3C Patent Policy contains a 'field of use' restriction that would bar GPL implementations. The most immediate response to this concern is to note that there are no field-of-use restrictions whatsoever required by the policy. Hence, the fact that a Recommendation issues under the policy does not impose any field-of-use restrictions on an implementer. The Patent Policy WG has discussed this matter and reached the following conclusion: The policy addresses the patent licensing requirements for implementations of W3C Recommendations, while remaining neutral as to what patent owners may do as to licensing for other purposes.The policy neither creates a presumption that any WG member will offer any license to its patents for any other use, nor that the Member will impose any conditions on implementers to limit their implementations to the Rec. We hope that this addresses the concerns of the commenters. If not, please reply back by 18 March 2003. Thank you, Daniel Weitzner Chair, W3C Patent Policy Working Group
Received on Friday, 14 March 2003 14:17:50 UTC