- <item>
- <title>RAND terms - non-reasonable and discriminatory</title>
- <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/RAND_terms___non_reasonable_and_discriminatory.html</link>
- <guid isPermaLink="true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/RAND_terms___non_reasonable_and_discriminatory.html</guid>
- <pubDate>Thu, 19 Apr 2012 22:20:00 +0200</pubDate>
- <description><p>Here in Norway, the
-<a href="http://www.regjeringen.no/nb/dep/fad.html?id=339"> Ministry of
-Government Administration, Reform and Church Affairs</a> is behind
-a <a href="http://standard.difi.no/forvaltningsstandarder">directory of
-standards</a> that are recommended or mandatory for use by the
-government. When the directory was created, the people behind it made
-an effort to ensure that everyone would be able to implement the
-standards and compete on equal terms to supply software and solutions
-to the government. Free software and non-free software could compete
-on the same level.</p>
-
-<p>But recently, some standards with RAND
-(<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reasonable_and_non-discriminatory_licensing">Reasonable
-And Non-Discriminatory</a>) terms have made their way into the
-directory. And while this might not sound too bad, the fact is that
-standard specifications with RAND terms often block free software from
-implementing them. The reasonable part of RAND mean that the cost per
-user/unit is low,and the non-discriminatory part mean that everyone
-willing to pay will get a license. Both sound great in theory. In
-practice, to get such license one need to be able to count users, and
-be able to pay a small amount of money per unit or user. By
-definition, users of free software do not need to register their use.
-So counting users or units is not possible for free software projects.
-And given that people will use the software without handing any money
-to the author, it is not really economically possible for a free
-software author to pay a small amount of money to license the rights
-to implement a standard when the income available is zero. The result
-in these situations is that free software are locked out from
-implementing standards with RAND terms.</p>
-
-<p>Because of this, when I see someone claiming the terms of a
-standard is reasonable and non-discriminatory, all I can think of is
-how this really is non-reasonable and discriminatory. Because free
-software developers are working in a global market, it does not really
-help to know that software patents are not supposed to be enforceable
-in Norway. The patent regimes in other countries affect us even here.
-I really hope the people behind the standard directory will pay more
-attention to these issues in the future.</p>
-
-<p>You can find more on the issues with RAND, FRAND and RAND-Z terms
-from Simon Phipps
-(<a href="http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/simon-says/2010/11/rand-not-so-reasonable/">RAND:
-Not So Reasonable?</a>).</p>
-
-<p>Update 2012-04-21: Just came across a
-<a href="http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/open-enterprise/2012/04/of-microsoft-netscape-patents-and-open-standards/index.htm">blog
-post from Glyn Moody</a> over at Computer World UK warning about the
-same issue, and urging people to speak out to the UK government. I
-can only urge Norwegian users to do the same for
-<a href="http://www.standard.difi.no/hoyring/hoyring-om-nye-anbefalte-it-standarder">the
-hearing taking place at the moment</a> (respond before 2012-04-27).
-It proposes to require video conferencing standards including
-specifications with RAND terms.</p>
-</description>
- </item>
-