Sometime Today, j cobbled together some glyphs to say:
rather than being compatible with some browsers. However the W3C standards are patent encumbered afaik.
patents in themselves are not bad. when utilised for evil, that's when they become bad.
Bad uses of patents: - Stifle innovation - Prevent competition
Good uses of patents: - Protect small time inventors - Protect a standard from being embraced and extended
jtd, you need to learn not to create stereotypes for everything. A little knowledge is dangerous if you believe in it as fact. I'm sure you'll agree with me, that given the last point, and how we've suffered from it in the past, that this is a Good Thing.
Read the policy here: http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy-20040205/
You'll understand that the primary reason for this policy is so that the W3C standards are completely unencumbered with non-free clauses that make it unusable by the general public. It's sort of a GPL for standards and specifications.
Philip