XML 2001 Town Hall Meeting focuses on Patent Policy

Perhaps the biggest news from W3C in September had nothing to do with specifications. This news centered around a document released by W3C on Patent Policy. The production of this document by W3C was encouraged because the consortium represents a diverse group with differing opinions about the nature of W3C Recommendations. Some believe that Recommendations should be Royalty-Free (RF). Others believe that paying "Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory" (RAND) fees to the W3C is sensible and productive.

During the XML 2001 Conference and Exposition in Orlando, Florida a Town Hall meeting was held on 11 December that was designed to provide "an opportunity to listen to speakers describe the issues at stake in this controversy and to participate in debate over the best way for the Web community to respond."

Daniel Weitzner, technology and society domain leader at the W3C and chair of the Patent Policy Working Group represented W3C. The meeting was chaired by Michael Champion of XML.com.

Weitzner began by giving a 20-minute summary of the issues. According to Weitzner, patent issues are usually handled by lawyers and technologists have very little to say. With the W3C patent policy, this, however, was not the case. W3C began work on its patent policy over 2 years ago. Naturally those companies who held patent portfolios were highly involved. It is no surprise, therefore, that respect for patents within W3C processes were strongly reflected in the working draft that was published in late August. When the Working Draft was made public, the response was swift, furious, and highly against the proposed W3C RAND-based policy.

Weitzner began by summarizing the objectives of the W3C Patent Policy:

To clarify the requirements on W3C member companies to disclose information concerning patents related to specifications under development by the W3C.
To revise the W3C process document to define the terms "royalty free" and "reasonable and non-discriminatory" and to assist working group operational decisions
To ensure that all W3C Recommendations that depend on patented technology can be implemented on at least RAND license terms.
To define a dispute resolution process for patent and licensing issues.

According to Weitzner, the response to public outcry about the proposed RAND-based policy was two fold:

Extend the comment period for the Working Draft to permit the ability for public comment and discussion.
Invite members of the Open Source Community to participate in the effort.

According to Weitzner the Patent Policy WG had been directed by the W3C Advisory Committee to rework the draft policy. Discussions of the W3C are member-confidential. But Weitzner indicated that today there is a strong preference for basing W3C Recommendations on technology that is not encumbered by patents, or whose owners agree to make them freely available on a royalty-free basis. The plan is to have a patent policy in place by May 2002.