ZDNet: Standards Chief Caught in Patent Storm

“If you want to adhere to the latest official protocol for
building a Web application, it could cost you.

“Welcome to the latest controversy roiling the World Wide Web
Consortium, the standards body responsible for shepherding Web
technologies like XML and HTML.

“This particular controversy began brewing nearly a year ago
when the W3C first contemplated a change that would let its working
groups incorporate technologies that already had intellectual
property claims–and royalties–attached to them. The W3C
subsequently backed away from that stance in the face of strong
opposition and reaffirmed its policy of only recommending
royalty-free technologies…”

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