[A2k] Open Standards

[James Love]

Article X - Committee on Open Standards

A committee on open standards (COS) shall be established.

Article X - Disclosure obligations for patents relating to standards
development organizations.

(a) COS shall establish a process and criteria for a Standards
Development Organization (SDO) to request a managed disclosure of
relevant patent claims for standards relevant to a knowledge good or
service.   To make such a request, the SDO must be global, with a
membership that is open to any party, and the qualifying open standard must=
:

VERSION 1

i.  be adopted and maintained by a not-for-profit organization, and with
ongoing development based upon an open decision-making procedure
available to all interested parties (consensus or majority decision);
ii. be published, with the specification of the standard available
either freely or at a nominal charge, with permissible to all to copy,
distribute and use it for no fee or at a nominal fee; and
iii.  the intellectual property aspects of the standard, including the
relevant patents or data, shall be made irrevocably available on a
royalty-free basis; and
iv.  there are no constraints on the re-use of the standard.

VERSION 2

i.  be published without restriction (e.g., potential implementers are
not restricted from accessing the standard) in electronic or tangible
form, and in sufficient detail to enable a complete understanding of the
standard=92s scope and purpose;

ii.  be publicly available without cost or for a reasonable
non-discriminatory fee for adoption and implementation by any interested
party;

iii.  Any patent or data rights necessary to implement the standards are
made available by those developing the specification to all implementers
on reasonable and non-discriminatory (RAND) terms (either with or
without payment of a reasonable royalty or fee); and

iv.  The process to develop, maintain, approve, or ratify the standard
is by consensus, in a market-driven standards-setting organization that
is open to all interested and qualified participants.


(b) The request for a managed disclosure process shall include the
following:

i.  A description of the SDO
ii.  An initial specification of the standard, including the expected
applications for the standard,
iii.  The benefits to the public of the development of the standard,

(c)  Disclosures of patents relevant to the proposed standard that are
not responsive to the requirements to be specific with regard to the
relevance of the patent to the proposed standard shall be rejected.

(d)  Members agree that a patent holder that fails to make constructive
disclosures of relevant patent claims will be prevented from enforcing
the patent against the implementation of the open standard.


Article X =96 Essential Interfaces for Knowledge Goods

(a) The COS will periodically request public comment on the interfaces
that are essential for software, computers and other knowledge goods.

(b)  The COS will publish and periodically update a list of essential
interfaces for knowledge goods.

(c)  Members agree to consider procurement policies that provide
preferences or requirements that computer software, hardware, or
accessories that use and enable open, standards compliant interfaces.

(d)  Members agree that patents that are licensed on a
non-discriminatory and royalty free basis for use in implementing an
interface for an essential knowledge good shall not be subject to
further fees.


--
James Love, Consumer Project on Technology, http://www.cptech.org,
mailto:love@cptech.org

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