W3C Publishes Patent Proposal; Comments Period Begins

[Seth Johnson <seth.johnson@RealMeasures.dyndns.org>]

W3C Publishes Patent Policy 

By Margaret Kane
January 28, 2002

The World Wide Web Consortium, in the throes of deciding on
a new policy for handling patent issues in its standards,
has published its existing policy to clarify where it
currently stands. 

The W3C develops industry standards for Web technologies,
working with software developers and others. It first
broached the idea last year of allowing patented
technologies to be used in standards. 

The initial proposal met with significant criticism,
especially from supporters of open-source and free software.
The main complaint was that allowing patented technologies
to be used in what are intended to be global standards could
stifle development and create significant legal barriers for
innovation.

The current policy requires W3C members to disclose patents
that may be applicable to any standard. If a disclosed
patent is determined to be essential but is not available to
standard users on a royalty-free basis, a Patent Advisory
Group will be created to resolve the conflict. 

If the working group is unable to come up with any other
solution, it may recommend using the patent and allowing the
patent holder to charge royalties on a RAND (reasonable and
nondiscriminatory) basis. The RAND requirement would be
subject to advisory committee review and the approval of the
W3C director. 

The W3C is accepting comment on its proposal now; a final
draft is expected to be ready in the next few months.