[FYI] New ISO fees on the horizon?
http://news.com.com/2102-1032_3-5079256.html?tag=ni_print
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New ISO fees on the horizon?
By Evan Hansen
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
http://news.com.com/2100-1032-5079256.html
Information technology standards groups are raising warning flags
over a proposal that could raise fees for commonly used industry
codes, including two-letter country abbreviations, used in many
commercial software products.
At stake is a tentative proposal from the International Organization
for Standardization (ISO) to add usage royalties for several code
standards, a move that opponents say could weaken standards adherence
by forcing software providers to pay a fee for each ISO-compliant
product they sell. The standards--ISO 3166, ISO 4217, ISO 639--cover
country, currency and language codes, respectively.
News.context
What's new:
IT standards groups are rallying opposition to an ISO proposal to
introduce usage royalties for widely adopted standards, including
country codes.
Bottom line:
Critics say the proposal could weaken standards adherence by forcing
software providers to pay a fee for each ISO-compliant product they
sell. The backlash illustrates growing sensitivity in software
circles over belated intellectual property claims.
More stories on standards
The ISO currently charges copyright royalties for the purchase and
reproduction of many of its standards documents, but does not charge
for access to the country-code standard. In addition, the ISO does
not currently charge for use of any of its codes, for example, within
a software application.
The proposal is still in the early stages, and may yet be
significantly altered or shelved. Still, technology standards groups--
including the International Committee for Information Technology
Standards (INCITS), the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and Unicode--
are rallying opposition.>
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