W3C Looking for More Patent Feedback

KjetilK writes: "The World Wide Web Consortium has posted a response to public comments it received. Part of the response is that the review period is extended to 11 October 2001. Continue to submit elaborate comments to the proposed policy, and make sure that the points made by the W3C are specifically addressed. Also, read the Patent Policy Framework proposal, the original announcement and background and the Patent Policy FAQ."

Comments

Patents create prosperity

[The Ultimate Badass]

Those of us who maintained our interest in the stock market even after the dot-com crash are well aware that the company that currently has the world's highest market capitalisation is none other than General Electric. Knowing this information, and also knowing that GE is the company holding the largest number of patents in the world, we are lead to an obvious conclusion.

In the information economy, the only way to remain stable and in control of your destiny is to maintain control of your information resources, such as trade secrets, corporate information, and of course, maintaining ownership of your research properties through patents is vital.

Patents are the only means of survival for a late stage tertiary industry based economy such as the US has. Without patents, companies have no reason to do research and individuals have no reason to form companies. It is impossible for a nation to remain prosperous if it does not support patents. Since the primary purpose of capitalism is to encourage economic growth and prosperity, it is obvious that we must encourage the patenting of new technologies, in order to profit from our nation's successes.

I find it crucial that W3C endeavour to hold on to as much of their intellectual property through the means of patents as they can. Only through this method can the W3C guarantee success of the web for America. If they do not, there is nothing preventing foreign off-shore technology companies from undermining the US's dominance in the internet market by stealing control of vital internet research and technology. This would be catastrophic for America. If we are to encourage a dot-com bounce back, we need the W3C to defend their hold on web technology.