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Subject: OASIS and Open Source Software
OASIS members, Many of you may have seen recent articles and postings from individuals in the open source community regarding the revised OASIS IPR Policy. First, let me assure you that OASIS values the contributions and viewpoints of those who support open source software which include many of our members, and many other developers across the globe who build open source implementations of OASIS specifications. Our revised IPR Policy was specifically designed to strengthen, not weaken, the consortium's commitment to the development of truly open standards, assuring that standards developed under the royalty free modes can be implemented in open source software. Second, please allow me to correct some of the inaccuracies being published. 1) The revised OASIS IPR Policy does not offer Royalty Free (RF) as a "secondary option." Almost every standards organization in our field has both a royalty-free track and a royalty-bearing track of some kind. We have, for a long time, and we still do. In our recent revision, we made our own royalty-free track clearer and more enforceable. All TCs are presented with three options--two of which make RF mandatory. We added these options in response to requests from members who want to produce RF standards at OASIS. With these three modes, we give you the freedom of choice as to which committees to participate in and which OASIS Standards to implement. 2) We have not suddenly adopted a RAND policy. The RAND baseline was part of the OASIS IPR Policy that was approved five years ago. Three years ago we began allowing new committees to adopt RF language in their TC Charters. Many TCs have been formed since then adopting that language, and many more of the TCs formed without that language (with RAND baseline) incorporate contributions made on a royalty free basis. 3) OASIS advances a wide variety of specifications, which can be implemented in both open source and non-open source software. In this respect, we are similar to ISO, ANSI, and the majority of other standards organizations. Our members collaborate to produce specifications, not write code. Because of the diversity of our membership and the broad range of standards activities, our members have consistently asked for different modes to support different types of activities. To completely eliminate RAND as an option (as the signers of the Rosen petition advocate) would deny those OASIS members who choose to work under those terms their current rights. 4) In today's reality, no standards organization can ensure that its work is or will remain completely free of patent claims. There is always a risk that some unknown party in the world holds a patent that they will claim is essential for implementation in software of a specific standard, whether open source or not. The most any standards organization can do is provide clear, equitable rules to govern those who participate in its work and publicly document the licensing commitment of participants. This revised policy takes great care to make the process and behavior of participants even clearer. Thus this policy provides even greater protection for those who wish to develop open source software which implements an OASIS standard from a royalty free mode committee. 5) Legal review of the revised policy was engaged specifically to ensure that it did not prevent the implementation in open source software of OASIS specifications developed under one of the RF modes. Last fall, the draft policy was made available to all 4,000 OASIS members, many of whom are active developers of open source software. Input from that member review was instrumental in creating the final IPR Policy. (Thanks again to all members who participated in that review process.) Moving forward, OASIS has invited advocates in the open source community to confer with us, to give us an opportunity to set the record straight, listen to one another's concerns in a productive manner, and dispel further miscommunication. OASIS staff is currently conducting training sessions with our TC Chairs and will also be offering briefing sessions to members on the revised IPR Policy, to provide you with more information and answer specific questions. The member briefing sessions will be presented at several different days and times, which will be announced soon. In the meantime, we encourage you all to thoughtfully review the revised IPR Policy, compare it with the legacy version, and consult the supporting FAQ documents. We continue to invite all those who feel strongly about this issue to actively participate within OASIS Committees, where you can productively express your viewpoints--and contribute to each committee's selection of its own IPR mode. Best regards, Patrick Gannon President & CEO OASIS 630 Boston Road Billerica, MA 01821 +1.978.667.5115 x201 - office www.oasis-open.org Revised OASIS IPR Policy http://www.oasis-open.org/who/intellectualproperty.php Legacy OASIS IPR Policy http://www.oasis-open.org/who/ipr/intellectual_property_2000-1-13.php OASIS IPR Transition Policy http://www.oasis-open.org/who/ipr/ipr_transition_policy.php Revised OASIS IPR Policy FAQ http://www.oasis-open.org/who/ipr/ipr_faq.php OASIS IPR Transition Policy FAQ http://www.oasis-open.org/who/ipr/transition_faq.php
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