Subject: Royalty-Free Patent Policy (W3C)

From: Carl Vilbrandt <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 22 Mar 2003 20:57:03 +0900

Should Organis design consider the Royalty-Free Patent Policy (W3C) and 
other types of compromise?

 I tend to think that at the very least try to identify different phases 
of the development of the Organis structure based  levels of development 
of digital  technologies.

# "W3C Unveils Its Patent Plans"
CNet (03/19/03); Bowman, Lisa M.

For over three years, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has been 
struggling to develop a patent policy that satisfies both open source 
proponents who want royalty-free standards and proprietary software 
companies who demand payment for the use of their technologies. A 
compromise has been struck in the latest draft of the W3C Patent Policy 
Working Group's Royalty-Free Patent Policy, which dictates that patented 
technology can be incorporated into standards development provided that 
it is royalty-free in the majority of cases. "With this final draft, the 
Working Group believes it has found a common, workable path that will 
encourage the widespread adoption of W3C standards across a wide range 
of business models, from proprietary to open source," notes Working 
Group Chairman Daniel Weitzner. Among the provisions contained in the 
latest version is one that allows technology to be included in Web 
standards when it does not adhere to specific inclusion standards, in 
which case the consortium's Patent Advisory Group will study ways to 
resolve the situation. Another provision included in the latest draft 
requires patent holders who want to exclude patented technology from a 
standard to notify the W3C of the patent within 90 days after the first 
draft of a working paper on the standard is issued. The W3C's patent 
policy draft will be open for public comment in six weeks, and the 
consortium hopes that its director will approve a final plan in May.
http://news.com.com/2100-1013-993283.html