[JDEV] New Patent Policy at W3C

[Dave Waite]

Actually it is still an issue - you patent methods, and it is rather 
possible that a proposal could show up that is only capable of being 
implemented by using a patented method. SVG has this issue, and the fact 
that W3 is using the new patent policy to handle the SVG issues *before* 
it is approved is one of the many reasons people are upset.

Another reason is that the W3C policy defaults to charging RAND fees if 
patents owned by a member company come up after a specification is 
established - it should default to being RF (royalty free) to prevent 
people from keeping patents hidden until after a specification is published.

Is this on-topic, though? :-)

-David Waite

Peter Saint-Andre wrote:

>>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
>
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