W3C Issues Finalized Patent Policy

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), dedicated to developing Web-related standards with member organizations coming from both commercial and public sectors, has recently finalized its Patent Policy governing the handling of patents in the process of producing Web standards. The Policy, developed over three and a half years, reflects a compromise between those parties who wish to protect and exploit their intellectual property and others (in particular, the open-source community) who see patents as impediments to technological progress and standardization. Essentially, the Policy strives to ensure that W3C Recommendations for standards produced under the Policy be implemented on a royalty-free basis. Subject to certain conditions, W3C will not approve a Recommendation if it is aware that a patent exists that covers the technology of the Recommendation which is not available on royalty-free terms. Any participant in a working group for the development of a Recommendation must agree to license royalty-free patent rights related to the work of that working group. For the Patent Policy as finalized, please see: http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy-20030520.html For another report on the Patent Policy, see: http://news.com.com/2100-1032_3-1008800.html Summary prepared by: Peter Wang