“After years of wrangling over whether it should recommend
standards which could include royalty conditions, the World Wide
Web Consortium (W3C) Tuesday created a policy which provides a
narrow method for including non-royalty free technology in
exceptional circumstances.“The W3C ratified its new W3C Patent Policy in a meeting in
Budapest Tuesday, ‘based on widespread member endorsement,
agreement in the W3C Patent Policy Working Group, and support from
interested members of the public,’ the standards organization
said.“‘It was not unanimous but it was an overwhelming majority,’
Daniel Weitzner, W3C Technology and Society Domain Leader and chair
of the Patent Policy Working Group, told internetnews.com from
Budapest. ‘We got more member votes on this issue than any other
issue we’ve ever submitted to the membership. We also got more
positive votes overall than any other recommendation in the history
of the consortium…'”