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List:       gentoo-dev
Subject:    [gentoo-dev] W3C patent policy change
From:       Karl Trygve Kalleberg <karltk () prosalg ! no>
Date:       2001-09-30 13:21:01
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Hi gang.

I normally wouldn't abuse my membership in this fine forum by preaching non-technical \
politics, but I really think this issue can have a dramatic impact on Gentoo as a \
distribution as an organization.

Please at least skim through http://www.w3.org/TR/patent-policy/ and make up your \
mind. 

You might also want to take a peek at Alan Cox' comments:
http://linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2001-09-30-010-20-OP-CY

Or a more in-depth article by Adam Warner:
http://linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2001-09-30-001-20-NW-CY


What I personally find dubious is that it standards backers should, not must, \
disclose relevant patent before the standards is ratified. With the known abuse in \
the world of patents, this could mean that *any* new W3C standard might require \
royalty payment, which is not known before long after the standard is in common use.


What I hope you do is make up your mind, and if you disagree about anything in the \
proposal, send a mail to www-patentpolicy-comment@w3.org and express your opinions. \
Remember that the mail need not be long and formal, but should be a bit more than "U \
5UCK". The deadline for public hearing is 30th September, which means tonight.

Kind regards,

Karl T


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