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Outline
- W3C Overview
- Mission, Structure, Standards, Process
- Patent Policy
- History, Motivation, Summary, Experience
- Extra slides
- Membership (benefits, joining)
- Technology trends (more details, focusing on the future)
- Discussion Encouraged Throughout ...
W3C Overview
Mission: Leading the Web to its Full Potential
Founded by Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee in 1994, W3C
is:
- Providing the Vision to Lead.
- Engineering the Standards that Make the Web Work.
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- From a Web of Documents ...
- ... toward a Web:
- of Data and Services
- on Everything
- for Everyone
- ... that is Interoperable, Trustworthy, Evolving with time
...
|
(Benefits / New "At a Glance"
brochure)
International Web Standards Organization
W3C's expanding base of international operations and
participation
Developing Standards at W3C
- Clear and effective Process, which encourages:
- Member-neutrality
- Clear Patent
Policy (more later)
- Consistent architectural framework
- Coordination, consensus and
interoperability
- No "rubber stamping"
- Must engineer dependencies (inside and outside of W3C)
- Views of the Process: Life of Working Group, Recommendation Track, Incubator
- New Incubator Activity
- Quicker, lighter process for efforts that are innovative and
not-yet-ready for standardization
W3C Patent Policy
Early Web Experience
Web "business model" built upon open, free (explicit or implicit),
cool foundation
- 1989-1993: Tim Berners-Lee invents Web, collaborating with an open,
growing community of developers and users
- 1993: CERN
contribution of Web infrastructure to the public domain
- 1994-1998: Community norms produce no patent licensing issues at
W3C
- Standardization in the spirit of "open", "free" and "cool" contributed
to rapid expansion of the Web
- For example, see Wikipedia entry on rise of Web vs.
contemporaneous decline of Gopher upon announcement by U. Minn. that
they would charge licensing fees for Gopher.
As the Web Grew ...
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- Original W3C Process (e.g., 1999 version) set IPR policy
- Encouraged standards unencumbered by IPR; required
disclosure
- However, Process became increasingly inadequate
- Fierce competition to exploit the commercial potential of
the Web
- Increasing number of patents asserted on foundational Web
technologies
- Some holders (including some standards developers)
sought royalties, other arrangements
- Increasing level of concern, confusion, legal actions,
delays
- @ W3C: P3P/Intermind (1999) [1], [2]; XLink; XPointer; CSS;
HTML/Eolas (2003+) [1]
- Perceived risk to the Web business model, e.g. ...
- to the continued development of open Web standards
- to the continued growth of the Web as a medium for
communication
- to the continued growth of the Web as an instrument of
commerce
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W3C Patent Policy History
- Patent Policy Working Group chartered in 1999
- Over 50
experts from many of the world's leading technology companies
participated on the WG
- Considered range of possibilities in RAND-RF space
- Sought the Right Tool for the Job ... e.g. the best policy to foster
- development of foundational Web standards
- continued growth and success of the Web
- New Patent
Policy approved in May 2003
- Strong support of the final draft by PPWG, W3C Membership,
interested public
- Ground-breaking Policy, providing a model considered by other
Internet standards orgs
Patent Policy in a Nutshell
Goal: Produce Recommendations implementable on
Royalty-Free basis and allow technical work to with minimal interruption
Method:
- W3C RF obligations for Working Group participants
- W3C RF licensing definition
- Disclosure rules
- Exclusion
- Exception Handling
Resources:
W3C Patent Policy Affirms Web Business Model
"The Policy
affirms and strengthens the basic business model that has driven innovation
on the Web from its inception.
The availability of an interoperable, unencumbered Web infrastructure
provides an expanding foundation for innovative applications, profitable
commerce, and the free flow of information and ideas on a commercial and
non-commercial basis."
--Director's Decision, 20 May 2003
Royalty-Free Licensing Commitment
- In
order to participate in a Working Group, a participant must agree to
license Essential
Claims they hold on an RF basis
- "Essential Claims" shall mean all claims in any patent or patent
application in any jurisdiction in the world that would necessarily
be infringed by implementation of the Recommendation."
- Exclusions possible early in the development of a
specification
W3C Royalty-Free Licensing Requirements
Requirements for an RF license:
- available to all
- all Essential Claims 'owned or controlled'
- field of use limitation
- reciprocity
- no fees
- defensive suspension
- no other conditions
- implementer may refuse
- license for life of Recommendation
- Recommendation deprecation
Disclosure
- Must
disclose if you have actual knowledge
"Disclosure is required when both of the following are true:
- an individual in a Member organization receives a disclosure
request as described in section 6.3; and
- that individual has actual knowledge of a patent which the
individual believes contains Essential Claim(s) with respect to the
specification for which disclosure is requested."
- WG Participants don't have to disclose UNLESS they seek to exclude a
patent from the licensing obligation
Exclusion
Working Group participants may
exclude specifically identified and disclosed Essential Claims from the
overall W3C RF licensing requirements
- ... no later than 150 days after the publication of the first public
Working Draft
- ... during periods after material subject matter is added later in
drafting process
- ... during period after joining a WG
- ... during period after leaving a WG (if leave early, can be excused
from licensing reqs)
- ... based on unpublished patent applications
Exception Handling
Purpose of the provisions:
Address variances from RF licensing goal
Trigger: Disclosure of essential claim not available
according to W3C RF licensing requirement.
Response: Convene a Patent Advisory Group (PAG)
PAG may conclude that:
- The initial concern has been resolved, enabling the Working Group to
continue.
- The Working Group should be instructed to consider designing around the
identified claims.
- The Team should seek further information and evaluation..
- The Working Group should be terminated.
- The Recommendation (if it has already been issued) should be
rescinded.
- Alternative licensing terms should be considered.
Implementing the Patent Policy
- Call for Participation (CFP) (example
[Member only])
- Join/Make commitment through IPP
- Nominate participants
- Status of Groups visible (example)
- First Public Working Draft starts clock
- After 90 days, Call for Exclusion (CFE) (example)
- At Last Call, second CFE (60 days, new material only)
Patents & Standards / Values & Costs
- To patent holders
- What are the values and costs of patents on fundamental Web
technologies?
- ... of the paradigm shift (or not) from other frameworks to an RF
patent policy?
- ... of W3C Membership and participation (vs. not) in standards
development (see later slides)
- ... of technologies included in vs. excluded from standards?
- To continued growth of the Web as a medium for communication and
commerce
- What are the values and costs of RF vs. RAND standards?
- ... of Web applications built upon Web standards?
Think of values and costs throughout a product cycle (research,
standardization, productization)
Questions?
Extra Slides
- W3C Membership
- Future technology trends
- Leadership
- Introduce ideas through submissions & workshops
- Influence standards through Working Group
participation, review, implementation
- Provide strategic direction through seat on Advisory Committee
- Each Member has
one AC Representative
- Early insight into market trends
- Access Member & Team technical experts
- Track emerging technologies & markets through Member-confidential
access
- Implement standards & plan for procurement of new technologies
ahead of market
- Promoting image as innovator
- Participate in international media activities, press releases, testimonials
(e.g., MWI)
- Display organization and logo on W3C
site (250K visits/day)
- Display W3C Member
logo on organization's page
- Ensure & enjoy benefits of royalty-free implementation of Web
standards
How to join W3C
Selected Technology Areas
- XML
- Document Technologies
- Web on Everything
- Web of Data and Services
Document Technologies
- Human interface of the Web
- Current Activities
- Likely future work
Web on Everything
- Premise: Web technologies will become the
primary means of interacting via all devices, including computer,
portable, transportation, entertainment, industrial and health,
appliances, etc. systems ...
- Current Activities
- Likely future work
Mobile Web Initiative
- Overview
talk
- Status of the MWI Activity (Launched 11 May
2005)
- Goals (with growing
installed base)
- Near-term: Make mobile Web content development and access as
seamless and reliable as desktop/laptop Web access
- Ultimate: One Web
- Initially, Activity has 2
Working Groups
- Synergy with wide-range of on-going work:
- XHTML, CSS, SMIL, SVG, Voice, MMI, Semantic Web, Web Services,
Internationalization, Web Accessibility, Web Architecture
- Collaboration with Open Mobile
Alliance
- Possible Future Work
- Framework/profile, validation services, test suite, discovery,
etc.
- Web on Everything - Embedded
systems (including, transportation, entertainment, appliances
..), Ubiquitous
Web
- Growing list of sponsors
Web of Data and Services
- Web Services
- Web of programs
- Standards for interactions between programs, linked on the
Web
- Easier to Expose and Use services (and data
they provide)
- Semantic Web
- Web of data
- Standards for things, relationships and descriptions, linked on
the Web
- Easier to Understand, Search for, Share,
Re-Use, Aggregate, Extend information
- Semantic Web Services
Web Services
Semantic Web
Other Work Expand Web Use and Safety
Thank you
