CNET News.com: Apple, HP modify stance on patent plan

"Apple Computer and Hewlett-Packard have both submitted statements to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) urging the organization not to adopt a policy that would permit the charging of royalties for technologies used in approved standards.

The W3C works with developers and others to come up with standards. It has been considering whether to adopt a new policy that would allow companies to patent technologies used in standards, and then charge royalties for using those technologies.

Representatives from both HP and Apple are listed among the authors of the proposal, and both companies are members of the working group discussing the issue. Microsoft representatives also cooperated in the first draft of the plan. But HP and Apple said this week that after further consideration, they will be urging the group to modify its stance when it meets next week to further review the issue. Microsoft representatives were not immediately available for comment.

"Hewlett-Packard Company opposes the adoption of the proposed W3C Patent Policy Framework in its current form and recommends that it be replaced by a policy with the goal of producing W3C standards that are all royalty free," Jim Bell, director of standards and industry initiatives for HP, wrote in a comment on the W3C site Thursday."

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