Fwd: Open letter against introduction of RAND patent policy in OASIS

[Maja van der Velden <maja at xs4all dot nl>]

FYI.

Begin forwarded message:

See: http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20050222131432302

A Call to Action in OASIS

The free and open source software community has long demanded that 
industry
standards be freely available to all to implement without patent or 
other
licensing encumbrances. Open standards are essential for free software 
and
open source to thrive.

Now OASIS, a major industry consortium that produces e-business and Web
services standards, has adopted a patent policy that threatens to 
undermine
our development and licensing model. This patent policy (available, 
grouped
together with other unrelated legal issues, in
http://www.oasis-open.org/who/intellectualproperty.php) permits 
standards to
be based upon so-called "reasonable and non-discriminatory" patent 
license
terms--terms which invariably and unreasonably discriminate against open
source and free software to the point of prohibiting them entirely. It 
would
lead to the adoption of standards that cannot be implemented in open 
source
and free software, that cannot be distributed under our licenses. While 
the
policy includes a provision for royalty-free standards, it is a 
secondary
option, which will have little effect if a few OASIS members with 
patents can
ensure it is not used. The OASIS patent policy will encourage large 
patent
holders to negotiate private arrangements among themselves, locking out 
all
free software and open source developers.

This is not a new issue for us. We fought hard for a royalty-free patent
policy in W3C and encouraged that standards organization to commit its
members to open standards. But some W3C member companies, steadfast 
opponents
of software freedom, moved their efforts to OASIS. Without consulting 
the
free software/open source community, they produced a patent policy 
designed
so that we cannot live with it.

We ask you to stand with us in opposition to the OASIS patent policy. 
Do not
implement OASIS standards that aren't open. Demand that OASIS revise its
policies. If you are an OASIS member, do not participate in any working 
group
that allows encumbered standards that cannot be implemented in open 
source
and free software.

Please send email to open at rosenlaw.com to indicate your support. We 
will
forward your comments to the proper authorities at OASIS.

If we stand united in opposition to this unacceptable patent policy, we 
can
persuade OASIS to change it.

/signed/

Lawrence Rosen
Bruce Perens
Richard Stallman
Lawrence Lessig
Eben Moglen
Marten Mickos
John Weathersby
John Terpstra
Tim O'Reilly
Tony Stanco
Don Marti
Michael Tiemann
Andrew Aitken
Karen Copenhaver
Doug Levin
Dan Ravicher
Larry Augustin
Mitchell Kapor
Russell Nelson
Guido van Rossum
Daniel Quinlan
Murugan Pal
Stuart Cohen
Danese Cooper
Eric Raymond
Mark Webbink
Ken Coar
Doc Searls
Brian Behlendorf

_______________________________________________

Web-Site: http://www.oekonux.org/
Organization: projekt at oekonux dot de


Maja van der Velden
Oslo, Norway
http://www.globalagenda.org