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W3C Objects To Royalties On ISO Country Codes

Posted by timothy on from the all-your-base-names dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Tim Berners-Lee has sent a letter of concern to the president of ISO about the idea of collecting royalties on...guess what...ISO language and country codes! According to the letter, the ISO Commercial Policies Steering Group is proposing a royalty on commercial use of ISO language, country and currency codes. The whole idea seems absurd. On what grounds could uttering lang="en-US" be subject to any intellectual property right that justified any royalty demand?"

4 of 374 comments (clear)

  1. Fuck you ISO by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Stupid First Post BTW

  2. Sorry but you leftist bastards piss me off. by rkz · · Score: -1, Troll

    I also hate how a lot of you are against intellectual property.

    I feel that
    everyone has a right to private property, and can copyright or patent
    it.

    Companies also have a right to use DRM to protect their products.

    The DMCA is wrong, however, because it OUTLAWS circumvention of
    copy protection, among other things.

    That has nothing to do with copyright
    or intellectual property and everything to do with making it easier for
    businesses at the expense of our rights.

    100-year copyrights are a bit
    ridiculous, too, although as long as it's limited it's perfectly lawful.

    --
    There is no god
  3. Sad news ... Stephen King dead at 55 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll


    I just heard some sad news on talk radio - Horror/Sci Fi writer Stephen King was found dead in his Maine home this morning. There weren't any more details. I'm sure everyone in the Slashdot community will miss him - even if you didn't enjoy his work, there's no denying his contributions to popular culture. Truly an American icon.

  4. What about slavery? by Thinkit3 · · Score: 0, Troll

    Abolishing that sure created more problems than it solved.

    --
    -Libertarian secular transhumanist