[DMCA-Activists] Re W3C PPWG: "Field of Use Restrictions Prevent Free Software Participation"

[Seth Johnson]

(Forwarded from W3C Patent Policy Comments list.)

-------- Original Message --------
Date: Tue, 26 Nov 2002 13:38:44 +0000 (GMT)
From: Michael Pacey <address@hidden>
To: address@hidden


I recently read about the proposed W3C patent policy, which
includes the adoption of a royalty free license for patented
technologies included in W3C standards.

Such a policy is an excellent step towards ensuring that the
Web progresses in an open way, encouraging innovation by
spreading ideas for the use and development of everyone;
however the proposal also includes "fields of use"
restrictions which effectively eliminate the good that the
policy would do.

I urge the W3 Consortium Patent Policy Working Group to
amend the proposed policy to remove these restrictions. Such
restrictions will lead to a ghetto-ising of the Web. The Web
is a medium of speech, perhaps the most free public speech
we have; to place limits on who may speak and how they may
do it based on their "field of use" is to create built-in
favouritism for certain points of view. Apparently, the
medium is the message. For a medium as ubiquitous and with
such great potential for communication as the Web, the
message conferred by the medium must be neutral, and remain
neutral. W3 standards must be uncompromisingly open and
free.

Please remove the restrictions on field of use.

Michael Pacey