[Fwd: [members] Feedback on Member Review of IPR Policy Revisions]

["Monica J. Martin" <Monica.Martin@Sun.COM>]

As Patrick states, individual members are encouraged to provide 
feedback. See herein. Thank you.

--- Begin Message ---

• From: Patrick Gannon <patrick.gannon@oasis-open.org>
• To: members@lists.oasis-open.org
• Date: Wed, 25 Aug 2004 17:12:45 -0400

OASIS Members,

	On behalf of the OASIS Board of Directors, I would like to thank all
members who provided feedback on the revised IPR Policy and associated
Transition Policy.  We remind those of you that have not done so, the
deadline for submitting comments is 10 September.  See previous request for
member review:
http://lists.oasis-open.org/archives/members/200407/msg00002.html 

	So far, the subject that has generated the most concern is the
tightening of restrictions around Individual OASIS memberships.  Certainly,
no one wants to impose unnecessary limits that would discourage
participation in the work of the Consortium.  However, to ensure that the
benefits of the new IPR Policy accrue to all implementers of OASIS Standards
and specifications, it is essential that clear and well-defined licensing
obligations are established.  That's why the new IPR Policy introduces
multiple IPR modes for Technical Committees.  These modes define the types
of licenses which must be offered and a set of rules whereby owners of
Intellectual Property participating in Technical Committees --whether they
be Organizations or Individuals--are required to offer licenses to their
patent claims that become essential in final standards. 

	For these rules to be effective, the owners of essential patent
claims must clearly confirm their agreement to be bound by the IPR Policy.
This will be accomplished by the new OASIS Membership Agreement, which must
be signed by a person with sufficient authority to make that commitment on
behalf of the Organization that he/she represents.  If an Individual member
of OASIS is employed by a corporation, the employer may have legal rights to
the contributions made through the Individual's participation in an OASIS
TC.  Individuals who are employees of corporations cannot, in general, make
IPR commitments on behalf of their employers.  Individuals who are either
self-employed or unemployed, obviously can make commitments on their own
behalf, since the commitment only applies to their personally owned
essential patent claims. 

	Some of you have observed that a significant percentage of current
Individual OASIS Members, not held to this requirement in the past, will
find it difficult to continue their participation in OASIS under the new
regulations, and you've expressed concern over the potential adverse impact
this will have on the work of the TCs.  Others note that employees of small
companies and those new to the Consortium often use Individual memberships
to demonstrate the value of participation in OASIS, motivating their
employers to step up to Organization Membership categories in time.  These
are both valid concerns.  

	To better identify the impact and alternatives surrounding these
issues, a survey has been prepared to solicit input from the existing OASIS
Individual member base. We strongly encourage all Individual Members to
participate in this survey. 
http://www.oasis-open.org/apps/Individual_Member_IPR_Survey/members/register
.php

	Your input will help staff develop proposal(s) that would continue
this low-cost entry level incentive to join OASIS, while still obtaining the
Organization Member commitment to license essential patents necessary to
ensure widespread adoption of OASIS Standards.  We recognize that for small
companies, the absolute cost of membership is of serious concern.  To that
end, the Board would very much like your input on what you consider to be a
threshold amount, as well as any ideas on how such memberships might be
structured (e.g., restrictions on number of individuals allowed or number of
TCs which can be joined). 

	Another issue identified by member comments is the feeling that the
choice of names for the two forms of Royalty Free TCs ('Restricted RF' and
'Unrestricted RF') was counter-intuitive.  The revised IPR policy has been
drafted to be as clear as possible from the perspective of a patent holder,
or licensor, on whether the mode is 'restricted' or 'unrestricted'.  While
the Board has no strong attachment to the current names, we do believe that
simply reversing them at this point would confuse additional people; we
encourage other suggestions from members for describing the RF modes.  Send
your comments to: ipr-member-review@lists.oasis-open.org

	As promised earlier, member comments, as well as specific responses
to each comment, will be posted at the OASIS Members-Only website.   The
Board initially decided to restrict viewing of member comments to Board
members only, so that members would not be discouraged from submitting
comments already made, and we could gauge the level of interest in a
particular topic.  Based on the quantity of responses received so far about
Individual Memberships, this decision has definitely worked; we now
understand this issue is important to a larger number of OASIS members than
we might otherwise have suspected. 

	Beginning immediately, however, and for the remainder of the review
period, we will make all member input, including comments received to date,
available to all OASIS members through the email list archives. We hope this
will achieve the equally beneficial effect of stimulating new issues or new
insights on issues already posted.  You can view the IPR Policy member
review comments at: 
http://lists.oasis-open.org/archives/ipr-member-review/

	Thank you for your continued support of OASIS and for expressing
your views on this very important topic.

Best regards,


Patrick Gannon
President & CEO
OASIS
630 Boston Road
Billerica, MA  01821  
+1.978.667.5115 x201  - office
+1.978.761.3546       - mobile
www.oasis-open.org



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