Urgent: Changes to OASIS IPR & Membership Policy

[Tony Jewtushenko <Tony.Jewtushenko@oracle.com>]

Hi all:

I've previously mentioned to you that OASIS is reworking their IPR and Membership policies.  One of the changes - elimination of most types of Individual Memberships - will have profound impact on our TC.  The purpose of this email is to ensure you understand the significance of the proposals with respect to your continued contribution to the XLIFF TC.  The original email is here: http://lists.oasis-open.org/archives/members/200407/msg00002.html.

Please note the following excerpt from the FAQ: 

3.4. How does an existing Individual Member come under the new IPR Policy?
Individual Members come under the new IPR Policy when they sign the Membership
Agreement. To expedite the transition of TCs to the new IPR Policy all Individuals are
strongly encouraged to sign the new OASIS Membership Agreement as soon as possible.
At the very latest this must be signed at the time of membership renewal.
Note that individuals that have assigned their IP ownership to others (e.g., by signing
most employment contracts) will no longer be eligible to hold Individual Membership in
OASIS.

Under the proposal,  the only way for an individual member - who has signed over their IPR rights to their employer,  standard practice for most employment contracts - to continue to participate in OASIS TC's after a 9 month transition period will be to convert their membership to a corporate membership.  I don't know how many of our individual members are planning to convert their membership to corporate membership.  If you feel you can share your specific membership plans or concerns with me,  please send me an email and I promise to keep any and all feedback confidential.

OASIS is measuring the likely impact their policy revision will have on individual members via a survey.  If you are an individual member,  I urge you to respond to the survey as soon as possible,  as I think it will be closing shortly.  Please make sure your opinion is heard:  http://www.oasis-open.org/apps/Individual_Member_IPR_Survey/members/register.php

Regards,
Tony

-- 
Tony Jewtushenko				
Principal Product Manager - Oracle Application Development Tools
Oracle Corporation, Ireland

mailto:tony.jewtushenko@oracle.com
Direct tel: +353.1.8039080