[JDEV] New Patent Policy at W3C

[Peter Saint-Andre]

> I am a co-founder of  a software company and I don't see patents as a good
> thing. I am pro-IP too, but I cannot support an 'open web standard' that is
> tied up with patents. Either the specification is open (and free for use) or
> it is NOT.

The entire specification is open.

> Does Jabber.org have a patent policy on contributions ?

Jabber.org now manages just the XML protocol for jabber. The other kinds
of "contributions" (let's say, a new IRC Transport or whatever) are code
created to use Jabber's open XML protocol but they are not part of the
core of Jabber itself. So you could patent or (in this case more likely
copyright) your code and license it however you please. That in no way
affects the core Jabber protocol.

Peter