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1/25/2002 1:10:25 PM, Kian-Tat Lim <ktl@ktlim.com> wrote:
>
>Think of it as DOM Level 0. This is the baseline, that xml-dev
likes,
>that will be changed to something xml-dev doesn't like.
xml-dev may not like the eventual patent policy, but it will be very
different from the draft that caused the uproar last September.
"Weitzner described three points made repeatedly in the responses
that struck home with the Working Group:
The development of the World Wide Web over the last 10 years would
not have been possible, or at least would not have resembled the
course it did take, if implementers of HTTP, HTML, URIs, and the XML
specifications had to pay royalties to patent holders.
The open source development model that has powered so much Web and
XML development is simply incompatible with specifications that
require royalty payments to implement. The open source community made
very clear that the RAND policy would cause the Web to "fork," that
is, split along royalty free/royalty required lines, to the great
detriment of interoperability.
The RAND policy would "tilt the playing field" in favor of the large
companies with deep pockets and extensive portfolios of patents to
cross license, thus stifling the innovation by small companies and
even individuals that has so famously driven the evolution of the
Web...
As it turned out, Weitzner passed on news that was quite well
received: The Patent Policy WG had been directed by the W3C Advisory
Committee to rework the draft policy to have a strong preference for
technology that is not encumbered by patents, or whose owners agree
to make them freely available on a royalty-free basis."
http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2001/12/19/patents.html
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