OASIS IPR policy

[Michael Brauer <Michael.Brauer@Sun.COM>]

Dear TC members,

As discussed in our last con call already, one of the items our
submission of Committee Draft 2 for consideration as an OASIS standard
has to contain is:

9. A statement from the chair of the TC certifying that all members of
the TC have been provided with a copy of the OASIS IPR Policy;

(see also http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/process.php#standard)

For that reason, please be advised that the OASIS IPR Policy
can be found at

http://www.oasis-open.org/who/intellectualproperty.php

While the current IPR policy will be replaced by a new one mid of April,
the current policy is effective since January 2000, so you may have seen
it already when you joined OASIS. To make sure that we meet above
requirement, you will find a copy of the current OASIS IPR
policy below.

Best regards

Michael

===================================================================

Legacy OASIS Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Policy

OASIS.IPR.1. General Policy

In all matters of intellectual property rights and procedures, the
intention is to benefit the public at large, while respecting the
legitimate rights of others.

OASIS.IPR.2 Confidentiality Obligations

No contribution that is subject to any requirement of confidentiality or
any restriction on its dissemination may be considered in any part of
the OASIS Standards Process, and there must be no assumption of any
confidentiality obligation with respect to any such contribution. No
submission should be made on the basis of an assumed confidentiality
obligation or restriction on dissolution.

OASIS.IPR.3. Rights and Permissions

In the course of standards work, OASIS receives contributions in various
forms and from many persons. To best facilitate the dissemination of
these contributions, it is necessary to understand any intellectual
property rights (IPR) relating to the contributions.

OASIS.IPR.3.1. All Contributions

By submission of a contribution, each person actually submitting the
contribution is deemed to agree to the following terms and conditions on
his own behalf, on behalf of the organization (if any) he represents and
on behalf of the owners of any proprietary rights in the contribution.
Where a submission identifies contributors in addition to the
contributor(s) who provide the actual submission, the actual
submitter(s) represent that each other named contributor was made aware
of and agreed to accept the same terms and conditions on his own behalf,
on behalf of any organization he may represent and any known owner of
any proprietary rights in the contribution.

1.Some works (e.g. works of the U.S. Government) are not subject to
copyright. However, to the extent that the submission is or may be
subject to copyright, the contributor, the organization he represents
(if any) and the owners of any proprietary rights in the contribution,
grant an unlimited perpetual, non-exclusive, royalty-free, world-wide
right and license to OASIS under any copyrights in the contribution.
This license includes the right to copy, publish and distribute the
contribution in any way, and to prepare derivative works that are based
on or incorporate all or part of the contribution, the license to such
derivative works to be of the same scope as the license of the original
contribution.

2.The contributor acknowledges that OASIS has no duty to publish or
otherwise use or disseminate any contribution.

3.The contributor grants permission to reference the name(s) and
address(es) of the contributor(s) and of the organization(s) he
represents (if any).

4.The contributor represents that contributions properly acknowledge
major contributors.

5.The contributor, the organization (if any) he represents and the
owners of any proprietary rights in the contribution, agree that no
information in the contribution is confidential and that OASIS and its
affiliated organizations may freely disclose any information in the
contribution.

6.The contributor represents that he has disclosed the existence of any
proprietary or intellectual property rights in the contribution that are
reasonably and personally known to the contributor. The contributor does
not represent that he personally knows of all potentially pertinent
proprietary and intellectual property rights owned or claimed by the
organization he represents (if any) or third parties.

7.The contributor represents that there are no limits to the
contributor's ability to make the grants, acknowledgments and agreements
above that are reasonably and personally known to the contributor.

8.By ratifying this document, OASIS warrants that it will not inhibit
the traditional open and free access to OASIS documents for which
license and right have been assigned according to the procedures set
forth in this section. This warrant is perpetual and will not be revoked
by OASIS or its successors or assigns.

OASIS.IPR.3.2. OASIS Specifications

(A) Where any patents, patent applications, or other proprietary rights
are known, or claimed, with respect to any specification developed
within the OASIS process, and are formally brought to the attention of
the OASIS Board of Directors, the OASIS Board of Directors shall not
advance the specification without including in the document a note
indicating the existence of such rights, or claimed rights. Where
implementations are required before advancement of a specification, only
implementations that have, by statement of the implementors, taken
adequate steps to comply with any such rights, or claimed rights, shall
be considered for the purpose of showing the adequacy of the specification.

(B) The OASIS Board of Directors disclaims any responsibility for
identifying the existence of or for evaluating the applicability of any
claimed copyrights, patents, patent applications, or other rights, and
will take no position on the validity or scope of any such rights.

(C) Where the OASIS Board of Directors is formally notified of rights,
or claimed rights under (A), the OASIS Executive Director shall attempt
to obtain from the claimant of such rights a written assurance that upon
approval by the OASIS Board of Directors of the relevant OASIS
specification(s), any party will be able to obtain the right to
implement, use and distribute the technology or works when implementing,
using or distributing technology based upon the specific
specification(s) under openly specified, reasonable, non-discriminatory
terms. The technical committee proposing the use of the technology with
respect to which the proprietary rights are claimed may assist the OASIS
Executive Director in this effort. The results of this procedure shall
not affect advancement of a specification through the OASIS process,
except that the OASIS Board of Directors may defer approval where a
delay may facilitate the obtaining of such assurances. The results will,
however, be recorded by the OASIS Executive Director, and made
available. The OASIS Board of Directors may also direct that a summary
of the results be included in any OASIS document published containing
the specification.

OASIS.IPR.3.3 Determination of Reasonable and Non-discriminatory Terms

The OASIS Board of Directors will not make any explicit determination
that the assurance of reasonable and non-discriminatory terms for the
use of a technology has been fulfilled in practice. It will instead use
the normal requirements for the advancement of OASIS specifications to
verify that the terms for use are reasonable.

OASIS.IPR.4. Notices

(A) OASIS specifications shall include the following notice:

"OASIS takes no position regarding the validity or scope of any
intellectual property or other rights that might be claimed to pertain
to the implementation or use of the technology described in this
document or the extent to which any license under such rights might or
might not be available; neither does it represent that it has made any
effort to identify any such rights. Information on OASIS's procedures
with respect to rights in OASIS specifications can be found at the OASIS
website. Copies of claims of rights made available for publication and
any assurances of licenses to be made available, or the result of an
attempt made to obtain a general license or permission for the use of
such proprietary rights by implementors or users of this specification,
can be obtained from the OASIS Executive Director."

(B) OASIS encourages all interested parties to bring to its attention,
at the earliest possible time, the existence of any intellectual
property rights pertaining to OASIS specifications. For this purpose,
each OASIS specification shall include the following invitation:

"OASIS invites any interested party to bring to its attention any
copyrights, patents or patent applications, or other proprietary rights
which may cover technology that may be required to implement this
specification. Please address the information to the OASIS Executive
Director."

(C) The following copyright notice and disclaimer shall be included in
all OASIS specification-related documentation:

"Copyright (C) OASIS Open (date). All Rights Reserved.
This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to
others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it or
assist in its implementation may be prepared, copied, published and
distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any kind,
provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are included
on all such copies and derivative works. However, this document itself
may not be modified in any way, such as by removing the copyright notice
or references to OASIS, except as needed for the purpose of developing
OASIS specifications, in which case the procedures for copyrights
defined in the OASIS Intellectual Property Rights document must be
followed, or as required to translate it into languages other than English.

The limited permissions granted above are perpetual and will not be
revoked by OASIS or its successors or assigns.
This document and the information contained herein is provided on an "AS
IS" basis and OASIS DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED,
INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE
INFORMATION HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED
WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE."

(D) Where, pursuant to a notification under this Policy, the OASIS Board
of Directors is aware at the time of publication of proprietary rights
claimed with respect to an OASIS specification, or the technology
described or referenced therein, such specification shall contain the
following notice:

"OASIS has been notified of intellectual property rights claimed in
regard to some or all of the contents of this specification. For more
information consult the online list of claimed rights."