Patents, Royalties, and Web Standards
by Jeffrey Zeldman
- Published in: Industry, Politics and Money
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This week there is only one web story that matters. The W3C has written a patent policy that opens the door to royalty payments on web standards.
We urge all ALA readers to examine the W3C Patent Policy draft, read The Web Standards Project’s opinion of same, and mail your comments to the W3C before the 11 October cutoff date. Please read the W3C proposal carefully and craft your comments accordingly.
- Resources
- W3C Patent Policy Draft
- WaSP Opinion: “Dangerous and counterproductive”
- Michael Rose: Will the Web remain democratic?
- Richard Stallman: Royalty-free standards only
- The Register: “W3C denies misleading world”
- The Register: “IBM risks Linux strategy with RAND demands”
{Note: The W3C’s final policy came down strongly against patents. Nevertheless, in the years since this ALA “emergency” issue was published, we have seen web patents wreak havoc, most notably with the Eolas mess. – Ed.}
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Related Topics: Industry, Politics and Money
About the Author
Jeffrey Zeldman (@zeldman) founded and publishes A List Apart “for people who make websites” (since 1998) and The Daily Report (since 1995); founded and is chairman of Happy Cog design studios; cofounded the web design conference An Event Apart; cofounded and publishes A Book Apart (“brief books for people who make websites”); wrote the industry-changing guidebook Designing With Web Standards (now in its third edition); cofounded and led The Web Standards Project in the 1990s; stars in the award-winning weekly podcast The Big Web Show; and is on the faculty of the MFA Interaction Design program at School of Visual Arts in NYC.
