Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

W3C Revises Patent Royalty Policy

Posted by michael on from the doing-the-right-thing dept.

Jeff Heaton writes: "Looks like W3C is backing down on allowing companies to charge royalties for technologies that are incorporated into a W3C standard. In a controversial proposal made public last fall, the consortium debated whether to allow companies to charge royalty fees if their technologies are used in a standard." The new draft is online.

3 of 70 comments (clear)

  1. Not quite yet... by MrWinkey · · Score: 4, Informative

    They are not backing down just quite yet.

    The draft is not the final say on the matter. A "last call" draft will be published later this year, at which point the public and W3C members will submit comments. A final decision from the director of the W3C is hoped for by the end of the year, said W3C spokeswoman Janet Daly.

    So there is at least a year before it's totaly dead and gone and it may even come back if the members push it enough or somebody does. Thusly this is a victory but the battle isnt over yet.

    --
    Vote early. Vote often. Vote CowboyNeal.
  2. Re:Excuse for companies? by Ducon+Lajoie · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It could be an excuse indeed for some companies to avoid using W3C as a standard defining organisation and try to go to different forums that offer seemingly better financial incentives.

    The question now for the W3C (and any other SDO for that matters) is: what do they want their standards/recommendations to be?

    Do they target wide adoption and compliance? Do they care about the development of the medium? Do they want to allow the possibility of occasionaly creating de facto monopolies and cash cows for people who manage to tie their intellectual property rights to some standard? Do they have enough confidence in the strengh and credibility of their organization to take a strong stance regarding IPR issues?

    It's not an easy decision for the W3C, it is even harder for SDOs like the ISO, the ITU or others that rely on their members contribution (for standard development and financial contributions).

    As a side note, the whole issue of patents on software is far from settled in many jurisdictions. W3C standards have an international appeal and there is a huge liability issue regarding the non enforceability of such patents on a worldwide basic. This issue can't be looked at with an american law background only.

  3. Free Software Representatives on the Policy Board by Bruce+Perens · · Score: 5, Informative
    Three Free Software representatives are on the W3C Patent Policy Board:
    --
    Bruce Perens.