A Jesuit’s Guide to Open Standards

[ Thanks to Glyn
Moody for this link. ]

“The logic here seems to be that there would be an
“imbalance” in open standards if it were insisted that patents
terms were excluded – because balance obviously means having
standards with and without patents. While it’s true that creates a
“balance”, it’s a purely linguistic one; the fact is that
patent-encumbered standards requiring licensing fees cannot, by
definition, be open. That’s because they do not create level
playing fields: there is always one or more players who occupy a
privileged position. So the balance is entirely
specious.”

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